The Town of Capreol was incorporated on April 1, 1918 under the Railway and Municipal Board Order Procedure File 4628. The town was named after the Township of Capreol, which was surveyed by Ontario Land Surveyor James Stewart Laird in 1893.
As an incorporated municipality, the Town of Capreol had a council consisting of an elected mayor and councillors, varying in number based on the size of the municipality. The Town was responsible for the upkeep of the local road system and the delivery of services including policing, water and sewage. The Town of Capreol controlled the regulation of land and local administration through by-laws. It had the ability to raise money through direct taxation on land and through the use of debentures.
In 1955, the Township of Capreol incorporated. In 1959, all of Lot 9 and part of Lots 10 and 11 in the Sixth Concession were annexed from the Town of Capreol to the Township of Capreol with the consent of the Ontario Municipal Board. In 1973, the Town of Capreol had its borders changed again with the addition of Sellwood and Milnet. The municipality also joined the newly created Regional Municipality of Sudbury.
On January 1, 2001, the Town of Capreol amalgamated with the City of Sudbury, the Town of Nickel Centre, the Town of Onaping Falls, the Town of Rayside-Balfour, the City of Valley East, the Town of Walden and the unincorporated townships of Fraleck, Parkin, Aylmer, Mackelcan, Rathbun, Scadding, Dryden, Cleland and Dillnewly to form the City of Greater Sudbury.
Former Mayors of the Town of Capreol include; Dr. William Frederick Shaw 1918 William Bell 1919 Henry Clement 1920, 1922-1923 Charles Hart 1921 Walter Jones 1924-1926 Peter Kilgour 1927-1928 Anthony Hall 1929 J. Murray Mills 1930 Percy Robinson 1931 William Gibson 1932-1935, 1944-1946, 1953-1954 James E. Coyne 1936-1943 Alistair MacLean 1947-1952 Harold Prescott 1955-1961, 1964-1968, 1973-1974 John MacLean 1962-1963 Norman Fawcett 1969-1972 Frank Mazzuca 1975-1997 Dave Kilgour 1997-2000
Dr. William Frederick Shaw was the first mayor of the Corporation of the Town of Capreol.