After a Soo Line extension in 1898 linked more settled areas of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota with the Canadian Pacific line, a section of land along the rail line became favoured by incoming land seekers, eventually being named Macoun on railway maps.[7]
Macoun incorporated as a village on October 16, 1903.[8] On April 20, 1914, an acetylene gas plant explosion in the cellar of the Macoun Hotel and the resulting fire caused 13 deaths.[9] In the early 1900s acetylene was widely used for illumination.
The village is named for John Macoun, an Irish-born Canadian naturalist, botanist and explorer who studied the prairies on behalf of the Canadian government.[10]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Macoun had a population of 272 living in 109 of its 118 total private dwellings, a change of 1.1% from its 2016 population of 269. With a land area of 1.7 km2 (0.66 sq mi), it had a population density of 160.0/km2 (414.4/sq mi) in 2021.[13]
In the 2016 Census of Population, the Village of Macoun recorded a population of 269 living in 103 of its 119 total private dwellings, a 8.6% change from its 2011 population of 246. With a land area of 1.68 km2 (0.65 sq mi), it had a population density of 160.1/km2 (414.7/sq mi) in 2016.[14]
