Macoun, Saskatchewan

Macoun (2016 population: 269) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Cymri No.

The village is located 28 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of the city of Estevan on Highway 39.

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.

[8] On April 20, 1914, an acetylene gas plant explosion in the cellar of the Macoun Hotel and the resulting fire caused 13 deaths.

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.