Chipman is a village in central Alberta, Canada within Lamont County and Census Division No. 10. It is located on Highway 15, approximately 11 km (7 mi) southeast of Lamont, 22 km (14 mi) northwest of Mundare, 70 km (44 mi) east of Edmonton, and 30 km (18 mi) northeast of the Yellowhead Highway entrance to Elk Island National Park.

The community developed as an agricultural service centre following the arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway in 1905. During the first decades of the 20th century, Chipman grew into a busy railway and agricultural community serving a large surrounding rural district. Grain elevators, livestock yards, stores, hotels, mills, agricultural suppliers, churches, schools and numerous community organizations supported the village's growth. Its commercial importance declined after the construction of another railway line farther north, a major business-district fire in 1931, and the effects of the Great Depression, although Chipman remained an important local centre throughout much of the 20th century.

Chipman's history is closely associated with the agricultural settlement of the surrounding district, including settlers from Ontario and Ukraine. The village developed a particularly strong Ukrainian Canadian cultural and religious presence, alongside Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant institutions. Sports, volunteer organizations and community halls also played an important role in maintaining local life as the village's original railway economy diminished.

Settlement in the Chipman district began before the establishment of the village itself. Settlers from Parry Sound, Ontario, area arrived beginning in 1892. Another important group of settlers came from Ukraine, seeking homesteads and new opportunities in western Canada. Ukrainian bloc settlement became a major part of the district's identity, with Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox communities eventually establishing churches, halls, cemeteries and social organizations in and around Chipman. Among the early Ukrainian settlers was Wasyl Eleniak, remembered as one of the first Ukrainians to arrive in the West. A monument commemorating Eleniak was erected in the grounds of one of Chipman's churches. His name and the Eleniak family also became closely associated with the development of the Ukrainian Catholic community in the district.

Before 1905, the Chipman district was part of the North-West Territories. Supplies were brought from Edmonton by team and wagon, by settlers travelling on foot while carrying provisions, or by other overland means. The arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway in 1905 transformed the settlement. A town site was surveyed, a railway station and water tower were constructed, and Chipman emerged as a permanent commercial centre. The settlement was named after Clarence Campbell Chipman, who had served as private secretary to Sir Charles Tupper and later became Chief Commissioner of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The railway quickly attracted commercial development. The first business premises was a long log building constructed near the railway at what became the main street. It contained several separate commercial spaces, including a store, office, post office, insurance and law offices and a shoemaker's shop. One section was used as a café, remembered as the White Cafe, while a grain crusher operated behind the building. Nearby, a two-storey building contained a general store and the first telephone switchboard; part of the building also housed a machinery agency, while the upper level was used as a dance hall for community entertainment.

A three-storey hotel was built in 1905 on approximately the site of the later hotel. It was soon followed by a general store, a butcher shop, a livery barn, and a blacksmith shop.

The first grain elevator was built by the Gillespie Grain Company. A one-room school was established in 1906 on the east side of the village, providing the foundation for the school system that later became one of the community's most important institutions.