County of city: Lincoln County
Location of city: MO-79 & Cuivre River, lower Lincoln County
Location of city hall: 151 Main St. (Old MO-79), Old Monroe
Elevation: 440'
Population: 277 (2013)
The Person:
James Monroe
Former US President
• Born: April 28, 1758 — Westmoreland County, VA
• Military: 1776 — joins the Third Virginia Regiment
• Politics: 1782 — member of the Virginia House of Delegates
• Married: February 15, 1786 — Elizabeth Kortright
• Senator: 1790-1794 — a delegate from Virginia
• Ambassador: 1794-1796 — to France under President Washington
• Governor: 1799 — (elected in)of Virginia, served four terms
• Negotiator: 1803 — purchase of the Louisiana Territory
• Foreign Minister: 1803-1807 — to France, England and Spain
• Secretary of State: 1811-1817 — under President James Madison
• Secretary of War: 1814 — during the War of 1812
• President of the US: 1817-1825
• Death: July 4, 1831
James Monroe was born in 1758 in Virginia to a prosperous family. He attended William and Mary College, but was not there very long when he and some of his fellow students left to join the Continental Army in 1775, serving in the 3rd Virginia Regiment as a Second Lieutenant under Colonel Hugh Mercer.
Monroe saw service at Harlem Heights, White Plains, and Trenton, where he was wounded. In the fall of 1777, he was commissioned Major and subsequently named Aide-de-camp to William Alexander, Lord Stirling. He went on to fight at Brandywine and Germantown, wintered at Valley Forge, then fought at Monmouth in June of 1778 before resigning his commission in November of 1778.
By 1780, he was studying law under the Governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson. His political service began in 1782 when he was elected to the Virginia Assembly and a year later he was a Member of the Congresses of the Confederation until the year 1786. That same year he married Elizabeth Kortwright from New York. As a member of the Virginia convention, he was involved in the ratification of the Federal Constitution, and became a pronounced anti-Federalist.
In 1790, he was elected a United States Senator, serving until 1794, when he was appointed ambassador to France by President George Washington, serving in this capacity until 1796. He returned to the United States and was elected Governor of Virginia from 1799-1802. In 1803, he was involved in the negotiations that led to the Louisiana Purchase, and was shortly therafter appointed Ambassador to Great Britain, a position he held from 1803 to 1807.
He served a short term as governor of Virginia again in 1811, from January till April, when he was selected as Secretary of State under President James Madison. From 1814-1815, he also served as Secretary of War. He went on to become fifth President of the United States for two terms 1816-1825. His term is probably most well known for the Monroe Doctrine, issued December 2, 1823, which made it official U.S. policy to treat colonization of land in North or South America by European powers as an act of aggression against the U.S." ~ US History
The Place:
"A town in the southeast part of of Monroe Township. It was the first county seat from 1818 until the latter part of 1822 when Alexandria (q.v.), which was more centrally located, took its place. Later the seat of government was again moved from Alexandria to Troy, which had a site inaccessible to water. Old Monroe was laid out by 1818 by Ira and Almond Cottle and Nathaniel Simonds. It was originally called Monroe, for President James Monroe (1758-1831), who served from 1817-1825. Meanwhile Monroe County was named for him in the year of his death; and its county seat, Monroe City, was laid out in 1857. To distinguish the Lincoln County town from these, when it was established as a post office its name was changed to Old Monroe." ~ State Historical Society of Missouri
"Monroe, or "Old Monroe," as it is commonly called, is situated on the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad, at the crossing of the Cuivre, the town being wholly on the north side of the river. It is located in the southeastern part of Lincoln County, and, having been the first county seat thereof, it is one of the most historic places in the county. It is also noted for the beautiful mounds that have been constructed there in former ages. The site is beautiful, but the town is small. The original town was laid out some time prior to 1819, by Ira and Almond COTTLE and Nathaniel SIMONDS, the original proprietors. A large portion of it was donated in 1819 to the county for the seat of justice. The large brick house now owned and occupied by Herman NIEMEYER was built some seventy-eight years ago, about the year 1810. The county was organized in this house, and the courts held therein while the county seat remained at Monroe, In August, 1820, Almond COTTLE was licensed to keep a "tavern" the fee being $10 for a year. It is presumed that this is the house in which the "tavern" was kept. With the exception of the NIEMEYER residence there had been nothing at Monroe, in the way of buildings, for many years, until the railroad drew near its completion, when it began to revive. It was re-surveyed in 1880 by Charles DU BOIS, a civil engineer, and since that time the town as it now exists has principally been built. It contains two general stores kept, respectively, by Albert ISENSTEIN and Herman NIEMEYER; a hotel, grocery and livery stable by W. H. POLLARD; a hotel by Henry H. PIEPER, and a blacksmith shop by Herman BRUNES. ISENSTEIN also deals in furniture and farm implements. There is a daily mail between Monroe and Chain of Rocks. The railroad bridge, across the Cuivre at Monroe, has twice been swept away by the pressure of drift collected when the water was high. On the last occasion the drift contained 1,600 saw logs, which floated from the Cuivre and its tributaries. The present bridge is a magnificent one, made mostly of iron. During the last year immense cribs of stone have been constructed in the river, above the bridge piers, to prevent the drift from striking them. It is believed that these cribs of stone will be sufficient to resist the pressure of any amount of drift that will be likely to collect in the future, and thus enable it to be broken and floated down between the piers without injury to the bridge." ~ History of Lincoln County, 1888