John R. McLean (publisher)

John Roll McLean (17 September 1848 – 9 June 1916) was the owner and publisher of The Washington Post and The Cincinnati Enquirer. McLean was also a one-time partner in the ownership of the Cincinnati Red Stockings baseball team of the American Association and also the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds of the Union Association.[1]

"Friendship," the estate of John R. McLean, Wisconsin Avenue at Porter House N.W., Washington, D.C., built in 1898. Photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston.

John Roll McLean (1904)

He was born in Cincinnati, to Washington McLean, the owner and publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer. In 1905, he and his father purchased a controlling interest in The Washington Post.

In 1904, he and Senator Stephen Benton Elkins built the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad.[2] McLean, Virginia, which grew up around the railroad, is named for him.

McLean received the Democratic Party's nomination for the United States Senate in 1885 and for the Ohio governor's seat in 1899. He lost both elections.

He married Emily Beale and was the father of Edward Beale McLean, who took over ownership of the newspaper was the owner of the Hope Diamond. His sister, Mildred, was the wife of General William Babcock Hazen and Admiral George Dewey. His former estate, Friendship, is now McLean Gardens.[3]

References

1. Riess, Steven A. (1999). Touching Base: Professional Baseball and American Culture in the Progressive Era p. 55. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-2520-6775-4.
2. Guillaudeu, David A.; Mccray, Paul E. (2013). Washington & Old Dominion Railroad p. 37. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-9792-8.
3. Brenner, Joel Glenn (December 18, 1993). "McLean Gardens: Suburb in the City". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 20, 2018.

External links

• John R. McLean at Ohio History Central
• Media related to John R. McLean at Wikimedia Commons