Canadian Pacific Limited was created in 1971 to own properties formerly owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, a transportation and mining giant in Canada. In October 2001, CP decided to spin off the remaining businesses it had not recently sold off, thus creating separate companies for each, including Canadian Pacific Railway Limited.
The Canadian Pacific Railway Company was incorporated on February 16, 1881, to build a railway linking British Columbia with Ontario and Quebec.
On July 5, 1971, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company was renamed Canadian Pacific Limited, reflecting the fact that for years it had been a diversified company.
On July 4, 1996, as part of a corporate reorganization, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company became a subsidiary of a new company that assumed the Canadian Pacific Limited name. Canadian Pacific Limited's non-railway operations also became subsidiaries of the new Canadian Pacific Limited, leaving the Canadian Pacific Railway Company with the railway operations.
In 2001, the five remaining subsidiaries of Canadian Pacific Limited were spun off into separate companies.
CP built hotels along its railway routes across Canada. The first hotels were originally built in 1886 primarily to provide meal service for passengers in the Rocky Mountains where railway grades were too severe to justify the operation of Dining Cars. CP's hotel network later expanded to include the Château Frontenac in Quebec City, Quebec, Chateau Lake Louise on Lake Louise in Alberta, the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta, The Empress in Victoria, BC, the Royal York in Toronto, Ontario, and The Algonquin in St. Andrews, New Brunswick among others.