McLean was settled by British people and takes its name from William J. McLean, a Hudson's Bay Company trader who took part in the 1885 uprising. The community's story is closely tied to the Canadian Pacific Railway, which established a station here on the mainline east of Regina.
McLean sits at the highest point on the CPR mainline east of the Rocky Mountains, and because of that elevation, early locomotives stopped here to take on water and fuel. Railway crews also gave the place a nickname, "Cow Town," because it shipped more milk than any other town on the line. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, hunters came looking for partridge and other small game.
The village was established in 1913 but was dissolved in 1919 because of low population. It was re-established in 1966, after the Trans-Canada Highway was built. Today the local economy mixes agriculture and other businesses, and many residents commute to Regina for work.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “McLean, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.