Named after President James Monroe, who served in office from 1817 to
1825, the town of Monroe was settled in the early 1800s and incorporated
on February 21, 1822. It was a farming community until 1887, when paper
mills were built.
The first white settlers began to establish roots around 1800. David
Canedy and his family from Colrain are believed to be the first settlers.
Among the others were Ebenezer Hayward, Samuel and Daniel Gore, the four Ballou
brothers, Thomas Hines, Dana Phelps, Thomas Stafford, Asa Bullock and the
Briant family.
The town is sometimes called Monroe Bridge. The reason for this is
that after completion of the Hoosac Tunnel & Willington Railroad,
crewmen were told to leave the town's mailbags at the Monroe bridge, which
spanned the Deerfield River, connecting Monroe with Roe. When the post office
was established in 1888, it became known as the Monroe Bridge Post Office.
Monroe Bridge refers to the center of town.
The area's first railroad was put in operation in 1885, helping to
establish industry. It was built by the Newton brothers from Holyoke for the
purpose of hauling pulp from their pulp mill in Readsboro, VT, to Holyoke.
Residents referred to the railroad as the "Hoot, Toot & Whistle."
The railroad attracted the James Ramage Paper Co., which was built in
1887 and put in operation the next year. The mill was the forerunner of
Deerfield Specialty Papers Inc., which closed in 1984. The Ramage family
built a store, post office and houses for workers and themselves.
Monroe was the first Franklin County town to elect a woman to its
board of selectmen, voting in Inga Koksvik in 1932. |
