In 1912, a post office was established for the settlement by the name Zetland.[7][3][4] In 1926, construction was completed of a CNR train line between Zetland, Alberta and Biggar, Saskatchewan.[8][9] When the station was named Hemaruka after the daughters of Albert Warren,[4] Zetland, and subsequently its post office, assumed the same name from April 1927 onwards.[2][10] Also around this time, the Alberta Wheat Pool opened a grain elevator in the area,[11] a school opened,[12] and a community hall was built by 1929.[13]
The CNR track was used for periodic grain exports and coal deliveries, but received no timetabled rail services until 1933, when an ongoing coal hauling operation was established.[9] This service involved a train from Biggar to Hemaruka and back again once a week, on Fridays.[5] No additional services were established due to the ongoing economic pressures of the Great Depression.[13]
Hemaruka received national media attention in 1935 after Austrian-born resident, William Hawryluk, was prosecuted for the murder of his wife, Helen, in January of that year.[14][15][16][17][18] Their ten-year-old son, a witness to the crime, testified against Hawryluk at trial.[19] An autopsy also determined that Helen had died from head injuries "resulting from heavy blows," and William was sentenced to death by Justice Thomas Tweedie.[18][20] After the federal government declined to intervene with the sentence, Hawryluk was executed at Fort Saskatchewan by hanging in August.[15][14]
As the Depression era transitioned into the Second World War, train services to Hemaruka did not expand.[5][13] An absence of transit connections damaged the locality's economy, and, by 1944, Hemaruka had a population of 17.[5][13] Despite its modest size, three general stores remained operational in the settlement at this time.[5] The hamlet was served by one nurse, who also acted as an unofficial undertaker for Ukrainian families in the district who conducted their own funerals.[5]
Hemaruka's post office closed in March 1966, and the school closed the next year.[10][13] In 1969, the CNR sold the Hemaruka train station for one dollar to a local.[13] Hemaruka's grain elevator ceased operations in 1975, and its train tracks were removed entirely in 1978.[13]
As of 2024, Hemaruka contains some inhabited residential properties, while some abandoned buildings from its earlier operations remain standing.[21][22] Its community hall remains in use for occasional events hosted by the Hemaruka Hall Association as of 2025.[23][24] Around 40 people attended a New Year's Eve display at the hall in 2024.[22]
