MONROE COUNTY HISTORY
African American
Biographies
Cemeteries
Census Records
Civil
War Links
Guest Book
History
History USGenWeb
Land
Records
Lookup
Volunteers
Maps
Marriages
Newspapers
Obituaries
Pictures
Populated
Places
Post a Query
View Your Post
Queries
Researchers A-L
Researchers M-Z
Surnames A-K
Surnames
L-Z
A Brief History of Monroe County, Arkansas
|
Monroe County was created on November 2, 1829 from parts of Arkansas and Phillips counties
in the Territory of Arkansas, and was named for President James Monroe. |
| Prehistoric Indians once inhabited the area and evidences of their civilization are still being found throughout the county today. |
| The first known white men were living along the Cache River in 1799. During the next ten years, settlements were established on the White River and on Turk Bay, an earlier name for Indian Bay. |
| By 1823 the overland postal route from the east crossed White River via Maddox Ferry. Four years later the ferry at Mouth of Cache (now Clarendon) was licensed to Sylvanus Phillips. In August 1828 the first mail, by way of the new Memphis and Little Rock Road, was ferried across White River at Mouth of Cache. On November 4, 1828 the first post office within the present limits of Monroe County was established at Mouth of Cache, with John Maddox as postmaster. The name was changed to Clarendon in 1837, one year after the territory became a state. |
| The first seat of justice was located temporarily at the home of the widow of Thomas Maddox in the vicinity of Maddox Bay, the Maddox family having come to the area prior to 1819. It was along this bay that the second county post office was established as "Jacob's Staff," with Joseph Jacobs as postmaster. The Monroe County Tax Records for the year 1833 were certified at Jacob's Staff, which indicates this was used as the county seat at that time. A town was laid out and by 1838 both the post office and the town were given the name Lawrenceville, which remained the county seat until it was removed to Clarendon in 1857. The former Lawrenceville town site is now a well known fishing area and has a large number of homes on the banks of the bay. |
| Monroe County had a total of 461 residents by 1830, the year that the steamboat Waverly ascended the White River, ushering in an era of steam boating that led to the development of the ports of Clarendon and Indian Bay as bustling cotton markets and trade centers. |
| The Shady Grove Methodist Church, was deeded land at the edge of Clarendon in 1845. Later there was a Shady Grove Baptist congregation which was the last to meet at Shady Grove, using the building owned by the Methodist Church. This building was removed in 1905 and the lumber was used to build a home for the caretaker of the cemetery. Today, only the Shady Grove Cemetery is at the site. |
| The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in Clarendon in 1857. The frame building still stands, and is on the National Register. The Valley Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church was probably organized prior to 1860. A Valley Grove Post Office had been established in this area in 1848 by Jordan B. Lambert, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, thus it is possible that the church was established much earlier. A school was later established there but today there is only a cemetery at the site. The Valley Grove Cemetery is located about 4 2 miles north of Indian Bay, in Section 11, T3S R1W. |
| The first newspaper in the county was the Democratic Stamdard which was established in 1860 at Clarendon, with W. B. Nichols as editor. The Monroe County Sun , which had its beginnings at Clarendon in about 1877, is the oldest paper still being published in Monroe County today. Due to the 1916 Flood and a 1944 fire, most of the old issues of the paper were destroyed. |
| During the Civil War, in addition to 10 companies of Home Guards, the county furnished about seven companies of men to the Confederate Army. The county suffered much destruction of property and crops. The new brick courthouse at Clarendon, which was nearing completion at the outbreak of the war, was destroyed by Union Forces who removed the bricks and shipped them to their headquarters at DeValls Bluff. The county records had been removed from the courthouse and were hidden for the duration of the war and are practically intact today. The present courthouse was designed by Charles L. Thompson and was erected in 1911. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, as are many properties in Clarendon and other areas of the county. |