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C−History
History · McLean

McLean’s post office opened in 1909, and 8 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #155 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it

Most of McLean was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 12 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1950.

1909first post office
8on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
7famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From McLean’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How McLean began

When was McLean founded?

1909

The McLean post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1910. Five smaller post offices, Langley (1846), Lewinsville (1857) and Kenmore (1877), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,094 in 19502020 census: 50,773117 years

How historic is McLean?

C−

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first McLean post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1910.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives McLean’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, McLean is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #155 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of McLean’s overall grade.
Founding era1909, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19401.9% of homes (±0.7) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register8 listings, 22 historic buildings, 4.4 per 10,000 residents · typical VA town 3.6 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 21%
NewerOlder
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 39%

Virginia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Virginia town has 3.6 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so McLean’s 4.4 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 22 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1910 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about McLean’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s McLean, and 48 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19007 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1994. Watch McLean change.Landmarks on the Register8 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

McLean’s post office has been open since 1909. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Langley
1846–1918
Lewinsville
1857–1911
Kenmore
1877–1911
Chesterbrook
1897–1906
McLean
1909–today
Greenway
1931–1964
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Balls HillBelleviewBrilyn ParkBrookhavenBroyhill-Glen Gary ParkBroyhill-Langley EstatesBroyhill-McLean EstatesBryn MawrChesterbrookChesterbrook EstatesChesterbrook GardensChesterbrook WoodsChurchillClearview ManorDevon ParkEl NidoElmwood EstatesEvermayFoxhallFranklin ForestFranklin ParkGlendaleHaver HillsIngleside
Gone or out of use
Fort MarcymilitaryOdrick Schoolschool
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside McLean
Adams - Waters - Wren FamilyBethel Regular Baptist ChurchFirst Baptist Church of ChesterbrookJackson FamilyLewinsville Presbyterian ChurchPleasant Grove ChurchReid FamilyShiloh Baptist Church Cemetery - New Section

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

McLean on the map, 1900 to 1994

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 1900 USGS mapMcLean on the 1945 USGS mapMcLean on the 1951 USGS mapMcLean on the 1965 USGS mapMcLean on the 1971 USGS mapMcLean on the 1984 USGS mapMcLean on the 1994 USGS map1900Washington sheet · 1:62,500

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

On the National Register

8 historic places in McLean

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

places listed
8
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
22
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Salona
SalonaLangley Fork Historic DistrictSpring Hill FarmGeorgetown PikeNorthwest No. 3 Boundary Marker of the Original District of ColumbiaBois Doré, built 1951Drover’s Rest
BuildingsDistrictsStructuresObjects

Architectural styles listings

Federal2
Mid 19th Century1
Turnpike1
SalonaFederal
Langley Fork Historic DistrictDistrict
Spring Hill FarmFederal
Georgetown PikeTurnpike
All 7 listings
Northwest No. 3 Boundary Marker of the Original District of ColumbiaObject · listed 1991Bois DoréBuilding · listed 2020Drover’s RestBuilding · listed 2023

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

The story

How McLean came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of McLean.

Read it all →

The community received its name from John Roll McLean, the former publisher and owner of The Washington Post. Along with Stephen Benton Elkins in 1902, he bought the charter for the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad. Completed in 1906, it connected the area with Washington, D.C. McLean named a railroad station costing $1,500, of which $500 was raised locally, after himself, where the rail line (traveling on the present route of Old Dominion Drive) crossed the old Chain Bridge Road. The community itself was founded in 1910, when the communities of Lewinsville and Langley merged.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

McLean, 1846 to 1992

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846Post officeThe Langley post office opens
  3. 1857Post officeThe Lewinsville post office opens
  4. 1877Post officeThe Kenmore post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1911Post officeThe Lewinsville post office closes
  8. 1911Post officeThe Kenmore post office closes
  9. 1918In the archiveDickey's below Great Falls, log cabin
  10. 1918Post officeThe Langley post office closes
  11. 1920In the archiveProf. Wm. Spahr
  12. 1951BuiltBois Doré is built
  13. 1963Born hereCecil Hoffman is born here
  14. 1970Born hereMichael Arndt is born here
  15. 1980In the archiveSpring tulips and dogwoods on the George Washington Memorial Parkway
  16. 1985Born hereSarah Chang is born here
  17. 1992Born hereKevin Hogan is born here
By decade

McLean, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1920s3 items
Dickey's below Great Falls, log cabin1918Dickey's below Great Falls, log cabinProf. Wm. Spahr1920Prof. Wm. SpahrProf. Wm. Spahr1924Prof. Wm. Spahr
1930s–1970snothing 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
1980s3 items
Spring tulips and dogwoods on the George Washington Memorial Parkway1980Spring tulips and dogwoods on the George Washington M…Virginia office building1980Virginia office buildingCommercial office building in the Washington, D.C. area1980Commercial office building in the Washington, D.C. ar…
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
Today15 recent
The Langley Hills Friends Meeting House, formally called the Langley Hill Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Fr…2019The Langley Hills Friends Meeting House, formally cal…Modernist sculpture of Christ on the Cross on an outside wall at St. Luke Catholic Church in the Northern Virginia subu…2019Modernist sculpture of Christ on the Cross on an outs…Soccer field at Madeira School, a grades 9 to 12 private, day and boarding college-preparatory school for girls2019Soccer field at Madeira School, a grades 9 to 12 priv…Soccer field at Madeira School, a grades 9 to 12 private, day and boarding college-preparatory school for girls2019Soccer field at Madeira School, a grades 9 to 12 priv…Sculpture on the grounds of Luke Catholic Church in the Northern Virginia suburb of McLean2019Sculpture on the grounds of Luke Catholic Church in t…Doorway of Hickory Hill Mansion in the Northern Virginia suburb of McLean2019Doorway of Hickory Hill Mansion in the Northern Virgi…St. Luke Catholic Church in the Northern Virginia suburb of McLean2019St. Luke Catholic Church in the Northern Virginia sub…Hickory Hill Mansion in the Northern Virginia suburb of McLean2019Hickory Hill Mansion in the Northern Virginia suburb …Hickory Hill Mansion in the Northern Virginia suburb of McLean2019Hickory Hill Mansion in the Northern Virginia suburb …Visitors, at least the two human ones, admire the scene at Great Falls Park, a small National Park Service site situate…2014Visitors, at least the two human ones, admire the sce…View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Service site situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River…2014View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Servi…View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Service site situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River…2014View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Servi…View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Service site situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River…2014View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Servi…View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Service site situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River…2014View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Servi…View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Service site situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River…2014View of Great Falls Park, a small National Park Servi…
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.

Dickey's below Great Falls, log cabin
Retake this viewDickey's below Great Falls, log cabin, 1918

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
People over time

McLean, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,000196019802000202050,773

Grew from 1,094 people in 1950 to 50,773 in 2020, more than tenfold.

7 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Famous people

7 famous people were born in McLean

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Michael ArndtAmerican screenwriter · b. 1970
Kevin HoganAmerican football player · b. 1992
C
Cecil HoffmanAmerican actress · b. 1963
S
Sarah ChangAmerican actress and martial artist · b. 1985
Lauren ShehadiAmerican sportscaster for MLB Network and Turne… · b. 1983
M
Mike BrizendineAmerican soccer coach · b. 1977
Help out

Finish McLean’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDickey's below Great Falls, log cabin: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Great Falls8 historic placesCWolf TrapIts storyD−Pimmit HillsIts storyD−TysonsIts storyDIdylwoodIts storyD−Arlington62 historic placesA−Falls Church5 historic placesB+

Questions about McLean’s history

What year was McLean founded?

The McLean post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1910.

How does McLean rank for history?

McLean is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #155 of 253 in Virginia. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in McLean?

8 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Salona (listed 1973, the first), 1 historic district, the Langley Fork Historic District, with 12 contributing buildings, 1 structure, and 1 object. 22 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in McLean?

2% of McLean’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1977.

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).

From the Library of Congress (21), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.