page_title: Monroe, Washington
section_title: Renaming and relocation
hierarchical_section_title: Monroe, Washington / History / Renaming and relocation
caption_attribution_description: English: PH Coll 1373.8 Arthur B. Pracna was an architect who specialized in lumber and shingle mills in the Pacific Northwest during the early twentieth century. He was born in Minnesota in 1878 and began his buisness in Everett, Washington in 1902. He continued to work and live in the Seattle area until his death in 1948. He also designed and patented a swivel band-saw guide for use in these mills. Subjects (LCSH): Sawmills--Design and construction; Shingle industry--Washington (State)--Monroe; Wagner &amp; Wilson, Inc.
context_page_description: Monroe is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Skykomish, Snohomish, and Snoqualmie rivers in the Cascade foothills, about 30 miles northeast of Seattle. Monroe's population was 17,304 as of the 2010 census and was estimated to be 19,776 in 2019.
  Monroe was originally founded in 1864 as the town of Park Place, located at the river confluence among several existing settlements in the Tulaco Valley. The townsite was previously a trading post used by the indigenous Skykomish people. Park Place was renamed to Monroe in 1890 to honor U.S. President James Monroe, and was moved northeast to be near the tracks of the Great Northern Railway, which was constructed in 1892. Monroe was incorporated in 1902 and was selected as the home of a major condensed milk plant and the state reformatory.
  Monroe became a suburban bedroom community in the late 20th century, serving commuters to Everett, Seattle, and the Eastside. It is home to the Monroe Correctional Complex, which absorbed the original reformatory in 1998, and the Evergreen State Fair, which runs annually in late summer. The city is located at the junction of two highways, U.S.
context_section_description: The original Park Place post office and general store were abandoned and replaced by a new building that opened in 1890. John Vanasdlen, operator of new store, petitioned for the reopening of the post office but was rejected by the U.S. Post Office Department, which only allowed a single-word name for new offices. "Monroe" was chosen by Vanasdlen, with the input of McClurg, to honor of U.S. President James Monroe. The new post office for Monroe was granted by the U.S. Post Office Department on March 19, 1890.
  The Great Northern Railway chose a route over Stevens Pass in the late 1880s for its transcontinental railroad connecting Seattle to St. Paul, Minnesota, bringing new development to the Skykomish Valley. Monroe at Park Place was platted in 1890 and gained several new businesses, including a blacksmith, grocery store, a second hotel, and a butcher. The final survey for Great Northern in 1891 placed the railroad tracks one mile (1.6 km) northeast of Park Place, bypassing the settlement in favor of a straighter alignment to cross the Snohomish River south of downtown Snohomish.
  The railroad built a small depot named "Wales" on the 40-acre (16 ha) homestead of Jack Stretch, who platted a settlement on the north side of the tracks that he named "Tye City" for Great Northern's locating engineer George Tye. Great Northern completed their railroad through the Skykomish Valley in January 1893, following additional work near Snohomish to rebuild a bridge that had been destroyed in a flood. In late 1892 and early 1893, several merchants in Park Place moved their buildings to the south side of Tye City using teams of oxen, horses, and a steam thresher. After the relocation of Vanasdlen's general store and post office, the settlement became known as Monroe.
  The completion of the railroad attracted lumber operations to the Monroe area, boosted by the opening of the first shingle mill in 1894 and the first sawmill on Woods Creek in 1897. A bridge across the Skykomish River was opened in 1894 to replace the ferry and the town's first church was established two years later. The county government chose a 40-acre (16 ha) site north of Monroe for a 20-bed poor farm at the modern-day site of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds; it later became the Valley General Hospital. A cooperative of Monroe-area farmers built the city's first creamery in 1895, which was destroyed in a fire four years later and later rebuilt. By the end of the decade, Monroe had also gained a new school building, telephone service, a local newspaper, a full-time doctor, and paved sidewalks.
caption: The Wagner and Wilson sawmill, one of the largest in Monroe at the beginning of the 20th century
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