Grandchester was formally called Bigge’s Camp, named after a pioneer pastoralist, Frederick Bigges. The area was first viewed by Alan Cunningham in 1829 when he and his party camped beside the Railway Lagoon in search for the source of the Brisbane River. The surrounding flats and forested slopes had been hunting grounds for the Ugarapol people, holding corroborees on the lagoon parkland until the 1860s. Bigges Camp was originally named when Frederick Bigges used the same lagoon as a camp on his way to Mt Brisbane Station in 1842.

In 1865, the first stage of the Toowoomba railway line opened, running between Ipswich and Bigges Camp, the terminus becoming Grandchester Railway Station Brown Sign link. Permanent settlement followed and at the request of Governor Bowen, and new name was given in 1866.Grandchester is made of two words. Bigge is old English for Grand and Chester means camp. Bigge’s Camp became Grandchester, a suggestion made to Governor Bowen by his wife on the day the railway opened.

The station was built in 1865 and is the oldest surviving in Queensland. The original name Bigges Camp is still displayed at the station. Note the square water tank on an enclosed timber stand, a rare type. Tanks provided water for team locomotives. For many years, a ‘banking engine’ was stationed at Grandchester. This was attached to trains to assist them across the Little Liverpool Range.

The historic Railway Hotel was destroyed by fire in the 1950s. It was rebuilt and is now known as the Grandchester Hotel.