Norwegian settlers who had been living in the Red River valley near Crookston, Minnesota came to the Bardo area in May 1894.  Many families spent the first winter in dugout shelters while collecting materials to build a proper home.  As many new families came from Norway, the community was growing.  A significant number of these settlers came directly from Bardo, Norway, and that is how Bardo, Alberta took its name.  The first post office operated under the name Northern, from March 1898 until December 1904, when the name was officially changed to Bardo.  The first school was built in 1898 and was also used as the community's place of worship.  In 1908 land was donated, funds were raised, and Bardo's first church was built.  This church was in use until it burned down in 1921.  A second church was constructed, and the first service held on September 3, 1922.  Telephone service came to Bardo in 1910.  The first power line in the area was built in 1928, but it wasn't until the formation of a Rural Electrification Association (R.E.A.) in the early 1950s that electricity became more widely available to the area. 

Construction of the Tofield–Calgary branch of the Grand Trunk Pacific railroad began in 1909, shortly after the mainline from Winnipeg to Edmonton was completed.  Steel was laid to Bardo, the first station south of Tofield, in November of 1909.  The first train traveled from Tofield to Camrose on the 5th of February 1910.  Due to default on repayment of construction loans to the federal government, the GTP was nationalized as the Canadian National Railways in 1920.  By the mid-1930's passenger and freight service going through Bardo began to dwindle.  Freight service continued until 1977-78 to accommodate the grain elevators.  In 1978 the rails between Tofield and Kingman were removed.

As farms increased in size, producing more grain, Bardo realized the need for a grain elevator.  In the early 1920s the Pioneer Grain Company built a 40 000 bushel elevator at Bardo.  Power was supplied by a 10-15 horsepower, one cylinder engine.  These engines were referred to as a one lunger.  In 1929 the elevator was sold to Alberta Wheat Pool who added a 35 000 bushel annex in 1940.  The annex, intended to be temporary was not built on a foundation.  The one lunger was replaced by a four-cylinder continental engine in the 1960s.  The Bardo elevator closed for business on July 31, 1971.  In 1972, the elevator was sold to the Bardo Elevator Co-op who used it for about ten years. 

Today, the current owner, who acquired the property a little over a decade ago, does what he can to prolong the life of the elevator but it is falling into disrepair and needs a roof.  With estimates well into six figures for a new roof and no help from the powers that be, the Bardo grain elevator will continue to deteriorate like so many others.