Carr Bowers McClenny married into the Darby family, and then bought most of this land in the late 19th century, intending to harvest it for timber.

McClenny developed many businesses there related to lumber: harvesting the wood, sawmills to process it, turpentine, and land.

The town name McClenny was changed to the current name of The City of Macclenny because the post office department had a rule against using capital letters in the middle of a name.

[1] Macclenny is located in eastern Baker County at 30°17′N 82°7′W / 30.283°N 82.117°W / 30.283; -82.117,[8] 28 miles (45 km) west of downtown Jacksonville.

U.S. Route 90 (Macclenny Avenue) runs through the center of town, and Interstate 10 passes through the southern tip of the town, with access from Exit 335 (State Road 121) & Exit 336 (State Road 228) Lake City is 32 miles (51 km) to the west, and the Florida–Georgia border is 6 miles (10 km) to the north.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.7 square miles (12.3 km2), all land.