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History · McLean

McLean’s post office opened in 1902, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the McLean Commercial Historic District. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1963 on, and the census since 1910.

1902first post office
1on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From McLean’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How McLean began

When was McLean founded?

1902

The McLean post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 633 in 19102020 census: 665124 years
Founding year: the first McLean post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about McLean’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,521 in 1930; 665 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of McLean’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start McLean’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how McLean’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDevil's Rope Barbed Wire Museum: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

McLean, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,600192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,521

Peaked at 1,521 in 1930; 665 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on McLean’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How McLean came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of McLean.

Read it all →

In 1901, Alfred Rowe, an English rancher who later perished in the sinking of the Titanic, donated land near a railroad cattle-loading stop for the establishment of a town site. The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railroad Company constructed a water well and a switch and section house there. The town was named for Judge William P. McLean (1836–1925) of the Texas Legislature and Railroad Commission. The town grew rapidly. By 1904, McLean had three general stores, a bank, two wagon yards and livery stables, a lumber yard, and a newspaper, the McLean News. A windmill pumped water from a well drilled in the middle of Main Street, and citizens hauled the water in barrels and buckets. The town was incorporated in 1909, with C. S. Rice as mayor, and became a center for agriculture.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

McLean, 1902 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe McLean post office opens
  3. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 1,521
  4. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1980In the archiveDevil's Rope Barbed Wire Museum
By decade

McLean, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s2 items
Devil's Rope Barbed Wire Museum1980Devil's Rope Barbed Wire MuseumThe quirky "Greasy Spoon" restaurant inside the Route 66 Museum in the Texas Panhandle1980The quirky "Greasy Spoon" restaurant inside the Route…
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today10 recent
Ranch le long de la Route 66 à2010Ranch le long de la Route 66 àMcLean Texas aerial view2010McLean Texas aerial viewBannière de bienvenue à2010Bannière de bienvenue àAncien théâtre Avalon à2010Ancien théâtre Avalon àRattlesnakes sign, Route 66, near McLean, Texas2006Rattlesnakes sign, Route 66, near McLean, TexasMural, Route 662006Mural, Route 66Rattlesnakes sign, Route 66, near2006Rattlesnakes sign, Route 66, nearMural, Route 662006Mural, Route 66TXMap-doton-McLean2004TXMap-doton-McLeanProject VORTEX damage surveys of tornadoes around McLean, Texas on June 8, 19952003Project VORTEX damage surveys of tornadoes around McL…
On the map

McLean on the map, 1963 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of McLean. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

McLean on the 1963 USGS mapMcLean on the 1978 USGS mapMcLean on the 1983 USGS map1963McLean sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of McLean.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Devil's Rope Barbed Wire Museum
Retake this viewDevil's Rope Barbed Wire Museum, 1980

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on McLean’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in McLean

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2006
McLean Commercial Historic District
McLean Commercial Historic District
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Commercial Style1
Bungalow/Craftsman1
Tudor Revival1
Art Deco1
1-Part Commercial Block1
2-Part Commercial Block1
McLean Commercial Historic DistrictCommercial Style

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to McLean

Nobody well known was born in McLean itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Alan BeanAmerican astronaut and painter · b. 1932
Mac ThornberryFormer U.S. Representative from Texas · b. 1958
Tex WinterAmerican basketball coach · b. 1922
Glen HardinAmerican piano player and arranger · b. 1939
John AaronFormer NASA engineer, mayor Meadowlakes, Texas · b. 1943
Zach ThomasAmerican football player · b. 1973

Questions about McLean’s history

What year was McLean founded?

The McLean post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in McLean?

One place: the McLean Commercial Historic District (listed 2006).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (8), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.