Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1912-06-06

1870 and the Presbyterian in
1871. The Methodist Episcopal
church, South, was organized in
1867. OF the charter members
Of this church only one is now
living, namely, Mr.. John Shear
man. The Catholic church build
ing was begun IN 1883 while the
Grace Baptist was not built I'M
til the year 1900. The colored
people of the town have also a
church representing the Baptist
d nomination, sometimes called
the Second Baptist Church of
Monroe City"
The incorporation Of the town
was effected in 1869. In the year
1878 Monroe was incorporated as
a city of the fourth class. The
town owes its existence to the
construction of the Hannibal and
s. Joseph railroad and its pros
perity and facilities were great
iy increased by the Missouri, Kan.
SIS and Texas railway which was
put into operation in 1871. \
banking institution under the IL
tla Of Monroe City Bank was or
gained in 1875, John b. Randol
being president and w. R. P.
Jackson, cashier. The Farmers
and Merchants Bank was not es-
tdblished until the year 1887.
Monroe City now looks with
just pride upon her two local
Lewspapers-The Monroe City
News and The Monroe City Dem
ocrat. The "News" was estab-
lished in 1875 by the late S. H.
Hallock and is now under the
efficient authorship of j. w Cox.
The Democrat" was first pub
lished in 1883 by JOS. Burnett,
while w. J. Rouse is now its able
proprietor.
In 1880 the town contained a
bout $50 inhabitants and was
struggling along against many
disadvantages, but the following
year the little city seemed to
imbibe a spirit of enterprise and
threw wide her doors for an in
crease of population as we'll as an
increase in all departments of
business and i'll 1890 we register
ed nearly 1900, and this seemed
to be so gratifying that little
has been attained since that date.
The first school house was a
smaM one-rOOm frame building on
the lot now occupied by P. w.
Illusions elegant residence. This
gave way in 1876 to a four-room
brick building where j. j.
Browns house now stands. In
this building the school was grad
ed there being two grades in each
room. This was soon found to be
inadequate to accommodate. the
number of children of the school
age and the city was divided by
the railroad. Accordingly the
South building, now occupied by
the Catholics, was built at a cost
of $2200-aM children north of
the railroad going the first and
all south of it going to the new
building. The present public
school building was erected in
1893 ait cost of $4,000.
At present Monroe City boasts
of three social clubs, namely: the
P. e. o., established in 1893, the
U. D. c., organized in the year
1906, and the Century Club, be-
sides a number of lodges and a
strong organization of the WO-
man s Christian Temperance I'm
ion.
The year 1899 was a very dis
astrous one for Monroe City. In
the early part of that year what
was then called the McCarty
buildings on Main Street were de-
troyed by fire together with
their contents. The loss was es-
timated at 100000. In a short
time the lots we're bought by Mrs
Lutte Proctor and the present
substantial buildings were erect
ed. These are now occupied by
A. Jaeger, Jr's., hardware es-
adjustment and Yates & Hagan S
clothing store. And in about two
weeks after this the fire bell a.