Canwood's name has changed several times since the settlement began. Post office records list the original name as Parksiding, though nothing shows it ever went by that name. The post office opened on September 1, 1911, under the name McQuan, a typographical error that was corrected to McOwan three months later. The corrected name honoured Alexander McOwan, a pioneer settler who worked as an immigration agent and estate manager and also wrote books.
On June 1, 1912, the community became Forgaard, in honour of Jens Forgaard, a Norwegian-born settler who had come from Minnesota. Exactly a year later, on June 1, 1913, it took the name Canwood, a blend of Canadian Woodlands, and that name has stuck. Canwood incorporated as a village on July 18, 1916.
Today the village lies along Highway 55, near Debden and Shellbrook. Canwood Regional Park, a short drive southeast, offers campsites, a nine-hole golf course and ball diamonds from May through September. Canwood Community School teaches students from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
The village also has a tall tale: that Albert Einstein once played goal for the Canwood Canucks while looking for quiet to work on relativity. The Canucks were formed in 1958, three years after Einstein died, so the story doesn't hold up.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Canwood” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.