Peter Fidler built Bolsover House in 1799 near "Lac des Prairies", the first name given to Meadow Lake.

In 1873 Métis families arrived establishing a Hudson's Bay Company trading post, joined by other settlers in the early 1900s.

The largest impetus occurred following a fire of 1919 and the exodus of some of the settlers during the Great Depression from the Dust Bowl of central and southern Saskatchewan to communities in the north.

[7][10][11] Peter Fidler of the Hudson's Bay Company was told by Indian guides that Meadow Lake was a good place for furs.

The post returned only 190 made beaver in the first season so in 1801 it was closed and everything moved east to Green Lake House.

The ancient lakeshore forms the Meadow Lake Escarpment, a significant terrain feature clearly visible looking south from many points in the city.

The neighbouring rural areas include Trembling aspen Populus tremuloides, White spruce Picea glauca, Jack Pine Pinus banksiana, Black Spruce Picea mariana and muskegs[7][21] Specifically Meadow Lake is situated in the Meadow Lake plain of the Boreal transition ecoregion in the Boreal Plain ecozone.

Meadow Lake was processing three million bushels of grain in 1953, the highest amount for a single Canadian community.

Meadow Lake acts as a business hub in its local area, providing services for the smaller surrounding communities of Dorintosh and Rapid View and surrounding reserves including the Flying Dust First Nation and the Eagles Lake reserve.

The Flying Dust First Nation, which directly borders the town, owns and operates many of the city's most profitable industries, including direct ownership of NorSask Forest Products Inc., a portion of the Meadow Lake OSB Partnership, stakes in local trucking and service companies, and a sizeable farming operation which is currently limited to leasing the vast amounts of local property they own or have title on.

The most pristine agricultural lands are closest to the city, whereas the surrounding areas become less suitable for farming and more amenable to ranching towards the north with the Canadian Shield, or east to the St. Cyr Hills.

In the spring of 2005, the Government of Saskatchewan invested CA$41,000 to upgrade the roof at Jonas Samson Junior High School.

[31] Academy of Learning AOL is a post secondary career and business college in Meadow Lake.

[33] The Northern Pride is a weekly newspaper based in Meadow Lake and serves northwestern Saskatchewan.

[37] Meadow Lake Provincial Park, located about 40 km to the north, takes its name from the city.