Monroe County, Illinois

Indigenous peoples lived along the Mississippi River and related waterways for thousands of years before European contact. French Jesuit priests in the Illinois Country encountered the Kaskaskia and Cahokia, bands of the Illiniwek confederacy.

The first European settlement in this area was St. Philippe, founded in 1723 by Philippe François Renault, a French courtier, on his concession about three miles north of Fort de Chartres along the Mississippi River. This early agricultural community quickly produced a surplus, and grains were sold to the lower Louisiana colony for years. They were integral to that community's survival, as its climate did not allow cultivation of such staple grains.

Monroe County was formed in 1816 out of Randolph and St. Clair counties, as the 8th county created from the then Illinois Territory.

Beginning on the Mississippi River where the base line, which is about three-fourths of a mile below Judge Briggs's present residence, strikes the said river; thence with the base line until it strikes the first township line therefrom; thence southeast to the southeast corner of township two south, range nine west; thence south to the southeast corner of township four north, range nine west; thence southwestwardly to the Mississippi, so as to include Alexander McNabb's farm, and thence up the Mississippi to the beginning shall constitute a separate county, to be called MONROE.
Illinois Territorial Laws 1815-16, p. 25[3]

It was named in honor of James Monroe,[4] who had just served as United States Secretary of War and who was elected President later that same year. Its first county seat was Harrisonville, named for William Henry Harrison, former governor of the Northwest Territory and future President. Harrison invested in several tracts of land in the American Bottoms above Harrisonville, mostly in the present precinct of Moredock, ownership of which he retained until his death.[5]

Waterloo was designated as the mantle of county seat in 1825. The sites of the colonial towns of St. Philippe and Harrisonville were submerged by the Mississippi River, in flooding caused by deforestation of river banks during the steamboat years. Crews cut so many trees that banks destabilized and collapsed in the current, making the river wider and more shallow from St. Louis to the confluence with the Ohio River. This change caused more severe flooding, as well as lateral channel changes, such as the one that cut off the village of Kaskaskia from the Illinois mainland.[6]

An unincorporated community of Harrisonville was re-established east of the original site. The bounds of Monroe County in 1816 did not include Precincts 1 and 6 (village of Hecker and Prairie du Long), Precinct 1 and most of 6 was added in 1825 from St. Clair County.[7] The strip of Precinct 6 from the survey township line east to the Kaskaskia was added, once again from St. Clair, two years later in 1827.[8] Some minor adjustments and clarifications of the boundaries have taken place, but the borders have remained essentially static since 1827.

• 
  Monroe County from the time of its creation to 1825
• 
  Monroe County between 1825 and 1827
• 
  In 1827, an adjustment to Monroe County's border with St. Clair brought it to its present territory

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 398 square miles (1,030 km²), of which 385 square miles (1,000 km²) is land and 13 square miles (34 km²) (3.3%) is water.[9]

The western part of the county on the Mississippi River is part of the American Bottom floodplain, while the eastern portion of the county is relatively flat and was originally prairie. The transition zone between has high bluffs of limestone and dolomite and has distinctive Karst topography with numerous sinkholes, caves, and springs. Mississippi River bluffs along Monroe County's western border make the county part of the “Illinois Ozarks.” The county's roughly 500 limestone sinkholes, most filled with dense woods, add to Monroe County's unusual visual appeal.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 32,957 people, 12,589 households, and 9,375 families residing in the county.[16] The population density was 85.6 inhabitants per square mile (33.1/km²). There were 13,392 housing units at an average density of 34.8 per square mile (13.4/km²).[9] The racial makeup of the county was 98.0% white, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.3% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.4% of the population.[16] In terms of ancestry, 53.9% were German, 16.5% were Irish, 9.6% were English, and 6.2% were American.[17]

Of the 12,589 households, 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.9% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 25.5% were non-families, and 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.02. The median age was 41.0 years.[16]

The median income for a household in the county was $68,253 and the median income for a family was $80,832. Males had a median income of $55,988 versus $39,375 for females. The per capita income for the county was $31,091. About 3.5% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.3% of those under age 18 and 2.4% of those age 65 or over.[18]

For census and election purposes, Monroe County is currently divided into 37 numbered precincts. However, for geographical, genealogical, and historic purposes the older, named precincts are of greater utility.

• Bluff Precinct

named for the ubiquitous limestone cliffs it sits atop and which run along its western bounds.

• Columbia Precinct

formerly Eagle Precinct from the original French name for their settlement, L'Aigle

• Harrisonville Precinct

honors William Henry Harrison who also gave his name to a settlement

• Mitchie Precinct

so named for the Mitchegamie Indians who at one time inhabited the extreme southern part of the county

• Moredock Precinct

after John Moredock, territorial legislator, and Major commanding a battalion in the War of 1812

• New Design Precinct

named after the settlement began by James Lemen, a confidante of Thomas Jefferson, in 1786

• New Hanover Precinct

as with the settlement, its name recalls Hanover, Germany, hometown of the settlement's founder

• Prairie Du Long Precinct

from hybrid French/English "Long Prairie", it was added in 1825, after the county's genesis, the strip along the river in 1827.

• Renault Precinct

also a settlement, for Philip Francois Renault of the French Company of the Indies, an early exploiter of the area

• Waterloo Precinct

formerly Fountain Precinct, from Fountain Creek which runs through it on its way to the bluffs and down to the river

Monroe County, along with neighboring Randolph County, is located within Regional Office of Education #45.[19]

Monroe County was hostile to the “Yankee” Civil War and voted solidly Democratic until Theodore Roosevelt carried the county in 1904. Since that time, however, the county has become predominately Republican, and the only Democrats to gain a majority since 1904 have been Catholic Al Smith in 1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, and Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Since 1968, Monroe County has been carried by the Republican Presidential nominee in every election except when Bill Clinton won a narrow plurality in 1992.

• Columbia Community Unit School District 4
• Valmeyer Community Unit School District 3
• Waterloo Community Unit School District 5[21]

• Fountain Creek Bridge
• Illinois Caverns State Natural Area
• Kaskaskia River State Fish and Wildlife Area
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Monroe County

• Official website
• IRAD Monroe County Fact Sheet
• Monroe County Web Directory
• Monroe County Infobahn

38.28°N 90.18°W / 38.28; -90.18