In 1871, British Columbia joined the Confederation of Canada in hopes of increasing the line of exporting goods. When the province joined the Confederation, it was promised that a railroad would be built within ten years (Ian Baird. An Historical Guide to Canadian Pacific Railway Stations in British Columbia. p. 9). However, due to unsuccessful government funding and political disagreements, the beginnings of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) did not appear in B.C. until 1884.

During the early years of the CPR, railway stations were temporary structures, adopting the design of boxcars, but without wheels (J. Edward Martin. Railway Stations of Western Canada. p. 7). They were small buildings divided into three sections. These included a tiny room for the agent, an office, and a waiting area located between the two. Outside a wooden platform greeted passengers, while a second boxcar was used for baggage. In the growing years of the CPR, from 1875-1900, the rail road station evolved from the small "boxcar" to a building that had many different architectural styles and characteristics. These characteristics often reflected a regional distinctiveness.

In the late 19th century, grand hotels accompanied extravagant railway terminals. In places as Winnipeg and Vancouver, the rail station hotels were one city block long and as tall as seven storeys. Throughout Canada, the Chateaux style became the main architectural style for grand scale railway terminals and government buildings until 1937 (J. Edward Martin. Railway Stations of Western Canada. p. 14).

Although hotel stations were popular in the 19th century, a time when the Canadian economy flourished, the CPR still favoured minor structures. Minor stations were constructed based on governing principles of neatness and operating economy (J. Edward Martin. Railway Stations of Western Canada. p. 22). The minor stations of the 1890's were ideally similar to the temporary structures of 1875. A house was set on one side of the tracks and was fronted by a wooden platform. (J. Edward Martin. Railway Stations of Western Canada. p. 22). To minimize confusion and delay, the waiting room opened directly onto the platform (J. Edward Martin. Railway Stations of Western Canada. p. 22) . While the agent's office was directly situated between the freight and passenger facilities.

From the minor stations to the grand terminals, the designing of different types of railway stations continued. Often when a station design proved to be adequate, railway companies tried to make use of it again. The Hope CNR station exemplifies this as a rendition of the earlier small CPR stations. Thus, these building were named "standards" and variants of the standard station became "specials".