A CPR station began operating at this site in 1910. The name was influenced by W. C. Van Horne, president of the railway, for one of his favourite authors, Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), the noted French novelist. The post office here was opened in 1912 under the name “Beddington,” after the town near Croydon, England. The name was changed to “Balzac” in 1925. Now a hamlet, it is under the jurisdiction of the MD of Rocky View No. 44.