From 600-to-230 million years ago, Monroe was on the bottom of a large shallow sea that covered much of central North America.  Today a peak back to that time can be seen in the limestone rocks that form layers along the sides of the North Dixie Highway Underpass.  These limestone rocks are the remains of that ancient sea.  From about 500-250-million years ago, Monroe's climate was probably much warmer than it is today because it was located father south.  The seas eventually retreated and about a million years ago the first glaciers began advancing into the Midwest from Canada.  Matter of fact, a little bit of Canadais under the feet of all Monroe residents.

            Glaciers advanced into the Monroe area from Canada and carried sand, silt, clay, and boulders.  These materials were left here permanently when the last of the glaciers retreated north and left the upper Midwest about 10,000 years ago.  Geologists say glaciers that covered Monroe were up to a mile-high.  The glaciers' bulldozing power was so intense as they moved south that they gouged deep depressions and basins in the land.  As the glaciers receded north from the Midwest, enormous amounts of meltwater from the glaciers filled the deep depressions --- eventually forming Lake Erie and the four-other Great Lakes.^{1, 2, 12}

            After the warming climate melted the glaciers, archeologists say small bands of Paleo-Indians (20-40 people) may have traveled back and forth through Monroe as they searched for large animals to hunt (barren-ground caribou) and gathered food from plants.¹³  Archeologists and historians say it is impossible to determine specific Native American tribal identities from this period forward until sometime after French explorer Rene Robert Cavalier Sieur de LaSalle opened the region of New France (an area today that includes much of Eastern Canada, Michigan, and land extending south to the Louisiana) to French missionaries and fur trappers (beaver pelts) after his expedition of 1679.  That year LaSalle sailed east-to-west across Lake Erie aboard the first sailing vessel on the Great Lakes, the Griffon.

            Because of the area's abundance of food and easy transport found along the River Raisin and Lake Erie, there probably were people who used Monroe as either a crossroads, camp site, or village for many hundreds of years before the first European explorers visited the area.   But so far the earliest documented presence in Monroe that archaeologists have found are artifacts they have unearthed at the northwest corner of North Dixie Highway and East Elm Avenue under the first of several excavations commissioned by the City of Monroe that took place 1999-2003.  Those objects document Native American Indian presence circa 1550-1650 A.D.

            The geologic sculpting that left behind Lake Erie also shaped the founding of Monroe.  Much of the western end of Lake Eriewas marshland, which made the land subject to flooding and an area to be avoided for building a settlement.  A prior history of Monroe states "The presence of the marsh barrier between the City and Lake Erie was probably the single greatest influence upon Monroe's development."¹⁴  In 1784 American forces Colonel and Frenchman Francois (Francis) Navarre was the first known European to come to Monroe.  On June 3, 1785 Potawatomi Native American Indian chiefs signed a deed giving Colonel Navarre land on the south bank of the River Raisin.  Navarre's homestead was located where the present day Sawyer Homestead stands.  Sometime shortly after that date, French colonizers built a settlement called Frenchtown on the north bank of the River Raisin just a couple hundred yards northeast of the present Winchester Street Bridge.¹⁷

            The Frenchtown settlement continued to grow and later gained prominence as the interests of British Empire clashed with its former colony that had only gained its independence from Great Britain a short time earlier.  By 1810 the Frenchtown settlement along the north bank of the River Raisin had grown to about 20-buildings surrounded by a puncheon fence.^{4, 17}  The small settlement found itself geographically between forces that were trying to shape the destinies of two nations through the War of 1812.  Frenchtown laid in the middle between the British Army (including Canadian forces) based in Detroit and the U.S. forces from the Kentucky Volunteer Militia led by William Henry Harrison that were garrisoned at Fort Meigs (near present-day Perrysburg, Ohio).  On January 18, 1813, the Kentucky Militia attacked British soldiers who controlled Frenchtown and sent them retreating across Lake Erie to Fort Malden in Amherstburg, Canada.  Four-days later the British Army counterattacked and repelled the Kentucky Militia south to the safety of Fort Meigs.^{4, 17, 18, 19}

            More than 300-Americans died during the British counterattack --- making the Battle of the River Raisin the single most deadly battle for the U.S.during the war.  The day after the British counterattacked, Indian allies of the British Army killed another 100-injured Kentucky Militia soldiers who were unable to march to Amherstburg.  Volunteers seeking revenge flocked to recruiting stations after learning about the Battle of the River Raisin and the slaughter of the injured Kentucky Militia members.  These additions to the U.S. Army eventually helped eject the British Army from Ohio, moving them back across the River Raisin during the summer of 1813.  Along with the decisive U.S. Naval victory by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie, the British were pushed back to the Thames River near present-day London, Canada where the remaining Kentucky Militiamen engaged the combined British Army/Native Indian force, defeating them to shouts of "Remember the Raisin!"  The defeat of the British Army at London, Ontario ended the Northwest Campaign of the War of 1812.  The River Raisin Battlefield was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.^{4, 17, 18, 19}

            After the war, a feeling of safety motivated settlers to move to the western frontier, including  communities like Frenchtown.  The life-sustaining River Raisin (Indians referred to the river as the River of Sturgeon) continued attracting people of French descent and others, with the population outgrowing the safe boundaries within the puncheon fence.  Population estimates of Frenchtown range between 1,200-1,500 people by 1834.  James Monroe served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War during the War of 1812.  To honor Monroe's service and his help in the area's recovery from the devastation brought by the war, on July 14, 1817 Michigan Governor Lewis Cass named a newly created county in Southeast Michigan --- Monroe County.^15,16  Less than two-months later the City of Monroe was officially established on September 4, 1817.¹⁵  Circa May 1824 Frenchtown Postmaster Charles Noble asked the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C. to consider several possible name changes for Frenchtown.  In July 1824 the Post Office Department notified Frenchtown Postmaster Noble that the Post Office Department officially changed the name of his post office to "Monroe in Michigan Territory."⁹

            Monroe is Michigan's only Lake Erie commercial port.  And just as the French Explorer LaSalle made his way west across Lake Erie, later so to did farmer and laborers who help build what was then 'the West.'  From about 1826-1843 an existing but inadequate harbor was in use on LaPlaisance Bay (today Bolles Harbor) that disembarked people, goods, and materials from the East.  In 1834 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Captain Henry Smith submitted plans to the chief of engineers a plan for straightening the River Raisin so that the river would directly connect to Lake Erie.  Captain Smith's plan called for digging a canal about 4,000' long by 100' wide.  Work began in 1835 on what would be called the United States Canal.  Congress appropriated money intermittently for the canal building project .  The construction of all piers and revetments, and dredging was finished some time around 1888.¹⁵

            In 1838 the City of Monroe held an election to ask property owners if money should be raised for the City to take responsibility for shortening and straightening the River Raisin by building a 1,300' City Canal that would connect to the United States Canal.  The money would either be raised through a either a special real estate tax levied on property owners or through a loan.  In August 1838 property owners voted overwhelmingly in favor of securing a loan to finance the project.  It was alleged that the vote may have been skewed by those who supported the project and those who wanted employment working on the canal.  It was reported that some property owners transferred small parcels of their land to non property owners, which qualified them to vote.  To pay for construction, the City issued $25,000 in bonds that were to be paid in 20-years.  The City Canal was completed in 1843 to a depth of eleven-feet.¹⁵  Voters again played another important role in the life of the Port.  The entire City of Monroe was designated as a port district for development purposes when a special election was held and voters approved the official creation of the Port of Monroe on 12 May 1932.³⁰  In contemporary times, the Port of Monroe has seen shipments of armor stone, asphalt, cement, coal, limestone, lumber, industrial equipment, petroleum coke, sand, and Renault cars.

            Monroe's geographic location continued to play a role in its development when, in 1837, the Michigan Legislature appropriated money for the construction of three-railroads that would cross the width of the State east to west.  To capitalize on the movement of people from the East Coast who were hoping to find their fortunes in the West and their need for supplies, the Michigan Southern Railroad was finished in 1841.  The Michigan Southern Railroad was the southernmost of the three State-financed railroads and connected Monroe to New Buffalo on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.¹⁴

            Just as the Potawatomi Indians chose Monroe for its superior location as a crossroads for food, transportation, and communication; many years later Monroe's prominence as a crossroads would once again make it attractive for an emerging form of transportation.  City of Monroe Custer Airport's tradition of public service started circa 1929 when the U.S. Commerce Department appropriated $12,000 to create the Monroe Airfield.  The Monroe Airfield was designed so it could be a stopover along the flyway of a transcontinental air mail route.  World War II gave the airport a military mission when the U.S. Navy leased it for several years for use as a landing and dive-bombing training site for pilots flying training missions from NAS Grosse Ile.  The airport's tradition of public service has continued with airplanes and helicopters using the airport from the Michigan State Police, Michigan National Guard, and Monroe County Sheriff's Office.^{31, 32}  Today Monroe Custer Airport (TTF, FAA identifier) has a paved asphalt runway that is 5,000' x 100', with a full-length parallel taxiway.  The airport also has a full service fix based operator that offers a flight school, maintenance, and charters.  The designation as a Reliever Airport for Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport means air traffic controllers encourage smaller, private aircraft to land at Monroe's airport instead of adding to the congestion at the Detroit airport.

            Civil War Major General George Armstrong Custer first came to Monroe with his half sister Lydia in 1849 when he was ten-years-old to attend school two-years at the New Dublin primary school.  He went back to his parents in New Rumley, Ohio.  In 1853, at the age of 14, George Custer returned to Monroe for two-years of study at the Stebbins Academy.  While in Monroe this second time he met a young Elizabeth (Libbie) Bacon.  His impression of Ms. Bacon was lasting enough for him to return eleven-years later, during the height of the Civil War, in 1864 and marry her.  Custer graduated as a second lieutenant from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1861.  During the Civil War the young Custer fought as a cavalry officer at the Battle of Bull Run, Gettysburg, and numerous other battles, drilled new recruits and helped defend the nation's capital, and served in the Army of the Potomac.  After the War Between the States, Lieutenant Colonel Custer carried out War Department policy in regard to the various Native American tribes in the West as settlers began a massive migration west that would put them in direct competition for land and food that sustained wandering Indian tribes.^{5, 6}

            The result of competing and sometimes confusing government policies toward the Indians clashed with native way of life on a grassy ridge next to the valley of Montana's Little Bighorn River.  On June 25-26, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel Custer led 262-U.S. Army cavalry soldiers and scouts in battle against a force of more than 1,500 warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes.  The Indian confederation killed all in Custer's attacking detachment.^{5, 6}  Custer has been remembered in a number of ways.  While many books have been written about the Ohio native, Custer was immortalized in popular culture when actor Errol Flynn portrayed Custer in the 1941 film "They Died With Their Boots On."

            Another man who lived in Monroe for part of his childhood was J. (Julius) Sterling Morton --- founder of internationally-observed Arbor Day.  Morton lived in Monroe 1834 – 1854 and developed a lasting appreciation for nature generally, and trees specifically.  Two-year-old J. Sterling Morton arrived in Monroe with his parents from Adams, New York.  They lived in a house at the southeast corner of Fourth and Harrison Streets.  While growing up, Morton spent a lot of his time hanging out at his uncle Edward Morton's Monroe Advocate newspaper offices.  Uncle Edward was editor of the newspaper and the young nephew greatly admired his uncle and became interested in journalism and newspaper publishing.  Young Morton attended Albion College in Albion, Michigan during the winter term of 1847 – 1848, and through the summer of 1848.  In the autumn of 1850 Morton began attending the University of Michigan.  Morton was a senior in May, 1854 and was one-month away from graduating when he was expelled from the university for his strong opposition to the firing of a physician on the medical school's faculty.  The university later awarded a bachelor's degree to Morton in 1858.  Morton's parents moved from Monroe to Detroit in 1854.  Also in 1854, the 22-year-old Morton and his new bride Caroline moved to the Nebraska Territory where he began his own career in journalism and newspaper publishing when he began publishing The Nebraska City News in 1855.

            As was permitted at the time, during the Civil War Morton hired a substitute to take his place to serve in the Union Army.  During the war Morton formed a Nebraska City Cavalry Company to keep Nebraska Territory residents safe from Indian attacks.  In addition to starting a newspaper in 1855, that same year also saw Morton begin pursuit of another interest that would eventually take him to Washington:  politics.  In 1855 the young newspaper publisher was elected a representative in the Nebraska Territorial Legislature at the age of 23.  Through writing and publishing stories in his The Nebraska City News, Morton encouraged farmers to improve their farming techniques, plant better crops, and plant trees on the largely treeless Nebraska plains.  Morton promoted the many benefits trees could give farmers:  reduce soil erosion, provide wood for heating and cooking, and protect farm families from the blistering Nebraska summer sun.  To help promote the many beneficial uses of wood, Morton proposed a tree-planting holiday in Nebraska, called Arbor Day.  A day dedicated to trees would be his legacy.  In 1872 Morton submitted a resolution to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture designating April 10 as Arbor Day.  To encourage participation of this new day to promote the benefits of trees, Morton offered prizes to farmers who planted the most trees.  Since then the popularity of the tree holiday has spread and is now celebrated around the planet, usually on the last Friday of April.

            Later, Morton's interests in agriculture and politics brought him to the attention of President Grover Cleveland, who appointed Morton Agriculture Secretary in 1893.  During Morton's tenure over the Agriculture Department, he achieved a nearly 20% savings in the cost of operating the department, operated the department with ten-percent fewer staff, improved and expanded the Weather Bureau, and introduced the widespread use of a civil service merit system instead of relying on political patronage.  Morton was even a Democratic Party presidential candidate in 1896.  The one-time Monroe resident, newspaper publisher, public servant, and founder of Arbor Day died in 1902 at the age of 70.

            Cardboard boxes, newsprint, wrapping paper, binder cardboard, liner board, fiber board, cereal cartons, recycled fiber; and most recently roofing shingles, once made Monroe a manufacturing center or paper and paper-related products.  The first of the community's many paper mills began in 1834 when the Raisinville Mill was built several miles west of the city on the south bank of the River Raisin.  Other paper mills followed:  Monroe Paper Company (circa 1866), Lake Erie Pulp and Paper Company (circa early 1880's), Richardson Paper Company, Waldorf Paper Mill (circa 1888), Monroe Folding Box Company (circa 1903), Monroe Binder Board Company (circa 1906), River Raisin Paper Company (circa 1911), Monroe Corrugated Box Company (circa 1917), Monroe Paper Products Company (circa 1921), Consolidated Paper Company (circa 1921), Ace Paper Products Company (circa 1953), Jefferson Smurfitt Corporation (circa 1982), and roofing shingles from IKO Monroe Incorporated (2000).⁸

           Monroe entrepreneurs have given the world a smoother ride and a more comfortable place to sit and relax.  In 1916 August Meyer started Brisk Blast in Monroe, which produced as many as 5,000 tire pumps a week.  In 1919 the business changed its name to Monroe Auto Equipment Company and eventually evolved into a worldwide manufacturer of automotive shock absorbers.  The company built the first shock absorbers for railroad passenger cars in 1938.  In early 1974 Monroe Auto Equipment Company moved its world headquarters from the city to Monroe Charter Township.  In 1977 the company merged with the large multinational automotive supplier Tenneco, Inc.  Tenneco continues to manufacture Monroe Shocks and Struts.²⁰

            Two Monroe cousins taught the world the joys of reclining!  In 1927 cousins Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker pooled their money and started a furniture-making business in the garage Edward Knabusch's father.  The Kna-Shoe Manufacturing Company was born and in 1928 the cousins designed a wood-slat folding reclining chair (which the company still makes).  In 1929 the company made its first upholstered reclining chair --- the chair that went on to become the signature product of the small garage-based furniture company that eventually grew to become LA-Z-BOY Incorporated.  With its corporate headquarters still in Monroe, today LA-Z-BOY has retail stores and manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia.²¹

            Two successful figures from the literary world called Monroe their long-time home:  Elizabeth Upham McWebb (Aunt Bett) and Vern J. Sneider.  Elizabeth Upham McWebb was lovingly known as Aunt Bett by untold numbers of children and adults who enjoyed reading her children's stories.  The character she is most famous for is Little Brown Bear.  Little Brown Bear originally appeared as a central character in short stories Aunt Bett wrote that were first published in children's magazines in 1938.  Little Brown Bear was published in 1942 and was the first of seven books that chronicled the many adventures of the curious bear.

            Besides being an accomplished author, Aunt Bett was also a prolific story teller.  Through the years area children enjoyed listening to her read and tell stories at the library and at the Monroe County Fair.  Aunt Bett graduated from Monroe High School in 1923 and later lived for many years in the house at 304 Tremont Street.  On October 6, 2002 a statue dedication ceremony took place at the Dorsch Branch of the Monroe County Library System at Loranger Square in Downtown Monroe.  On that day, just a few feet from the library's entrance, a 600-pound bronze statue was dedicated of Little Brown Bear sitting on a log.  The statue was paid for by donations.  Elizabeth Upham McWebb died at the age of 99 in 2004.^{22, 23}

            Author Vern J. Sneider was born in 1916 and was a lifelong Monroe resident.  Mr. Sneider served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1946.  After World War Two ended, Mr. Sneider was assigned to the Japanese island of Okinawa during the occupation.  Mr. Sneider wrote five books, numerous television scripts, and contributed to numerous periodicals, including the Saturday Evening Post and The New York Times Book Review.  But it was his experience working in the Okinawan village of Tobaru that would lead him to write the work he is most known for and for which he won the highest form of literary recognition.  Mr. Sneider published Teahouse of the August Moon in 1951 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for that novel in 1954.

            During Mr. Sneider's service in the Army immediately after the end World War Two, he is credited with reopening 550 schools in Kyong Province, Korea.  Teahouse of the August Moonis set in immediate Post World War Two occupied Japan on the island of Okinawa.  It is a satirical look at the humorous results of what happened when the U.S. Army tried to teach representative democracy and capitalism to Japanese villagers who put their own unique spin on those two concepts that were new to them.  The novel was later adapted into a Broadway production that debuted in 1953 and ran for 1,032 performances.  In 1956 Mr. Sneider's novel was produced as a film.  The film starred Marlon Brando, Glen Ford, Eddie Albert, and Paul Ford.  From 1961 until his death in 1981, Mr. Sneider lived at 426 North Macomb Street.  The Monroe author died in 1981 and his obituary was published in The Washington Post and The New York Times.^{24, 25}

            While the paper industry dominated much of Monroe's industrial life, a steel factory was the center of a confrontation that put Monroe in the national news.  Monroe City officials and the Monroe Industrial Commission recruited a steel business to Monroe from Newton Falls, Ohio.  The Newton Steel plant opened in Monroe in 1929 and employed about 1,300 workers, with as many 90% of its employees who followed the steel factory from Newton Falls to Monroe.  Newtown's largely immigrant workforce did not assimilate well into Monroe's social fabric, with many of them originally emigrating from Eastern and Southern Europe.  The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) formed the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC).  In 1935 Republic Steel bought Newton Steel.  Republic's president was anti union and maintained a practice of not signing labor contracts with his company's employees.  National SWOC organizers sent a representative to Monroe to create an organized union workforce at the Newton Steel plant.  The SWOC representative in Monroe also was to try to recruit Newton's employees to join a national SWOC strike against the so-called Little Steel companies that began on May 26, 1937.  The SWOC presence in Monroe was part of a larger attempt nationally by the CIO to unionize the Little Steel companies of Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, and Inland Steel.  The national SWOC labor activist sent to Monroe was able to convince Monroe SWOC members to join the strike on May 28, 1937 when a vote was held at a morning and evening meeting.  Out of a workforce of 1,300 employees at the Newton Steel Monroe plant, only about 10-15% of Newton workers voted to strike.  Attendance was small at both strike meetings.

            Republic Steel did nothing to dispel rumors that the Soviet Union and the Communist Party were linked to the CIO'S.  Picket lines went up around the plant.  The City of Monroe seemed to be more sympathetic to Newton's officials than to the SWOC's position.  That sympathy may have been born of familiarity.  Mr. Orren Barron was both an advisor to the Newton workers who disagreed with the vote to strike and he was also City Attorney to the administration of Monroe Mayor Daniel Knaggs.  Also, Monroe's Police Chief, Jesse Fischer, had formerly been director of Newton's company police force from 1930-1934.  At the company's request, Monroe County Sheriff Joseph Bairley gave county-wide deputization authority to seven members of the Newton company police force.  By the end of the strike, the City of Monroe had deputized at least 383 civilians to join the ranks of its police department.  Mayor Knaggs intervened in the strike and organized a vote to determine if employees wanted to go back to work.  The election was not approved by the National Labor Relations Board.  Results of the election showed that 782 workers voted against the strike while only 30 supported it.

            The first violence in the strike came when a SWOC union leader was assaulted in Monroe's post office by a mob and by deputized special police that had been created by the City.  The special deputized police left the City Commission offices and marched toward Newton Steel.  At this point in time, with the possibility of violence increasing, Michigan Governor Frank Murphy unsuccessfully attempted to mediate the strike by telephone, making calls to strike leaders, City officials, and Newton officials.  Chief Fischer ordered the strikers to open their picket lines.  Strikers refused and apparently company police lobbed a tear gas bomb from behind the picket lines.  A melee ensued and the special deputized police launched tear gas canisters at the strikers.  Cars were overturned and dumped into the River Raisin.  The strikers were outnumbered and out equipped, they ran and special deputized police chased and beat them.  During the riot ,eleven people were injured.  Within one-week after the violent picket line clash, Newton Steel was operating again at full capacity.⁷

            Another industrial milestone in Monroe's life, and for that matter, all of Southeast Michigan, came in 1971 when DTE Energy began operating the Monroe Power Plant.  The coal-fire electrical generating station is located on the River Raisin and Lake Erie shore where it uses that water to generate steam, which turns the turbines, which turns generators that make electricity.  The Monroe plant burns about eight-million tons of coal per year.  It burns a mixture of low-sulfur Western coal and mid-sulfur Eastern coal.  About one-million tons of coal is unloaded by freighters which dock on the River Raisin, and the remaining seven-million tons by train.  Freighters typically unload anywhere between 28,000 tons to 42,000 tons of coal, taking them six to ten hours respectively.  An average train has 115-rail cars, each carrying 100 tons of coal.  One of the most noticeable features of the Monroe Power Plant are its twin 800' tall concrete smoke stacks, which are Monroe landmarks and can easily be seen for 10-15 miles on a clear day.  The BoilerBuilding is 13-stories tall.  The plant and equipment that sit on DTE Energy's 1,200-acre site makes the Monroe Power Plant the city's largest taxpayer, comprising about 39% of the city's tax base.²⁶

            Few communities are fortunate enough to experience the drama, excitement, and notoriety generated by a presidential visit.  Monroe has experienced the honor during visits by four presidents through its history.

            Monroe's first presidential visit occurred on September 4 , 1866 when President Andrew Johnson's (1865-1869) train route brought him to the city.  Hoping to influence November's Congressional elections and promote a more conciliatory reunification of the South with the North after the Civil War, the nation's 17^th President boarded a train in Washington, D.C.on August 28, 1866 for a trip that would take him to the Midwest.  President Johnson's train trip became known as the Swing Around the Circle, a term Tennessee politicians (like Johnson) were familiar with when they wanted to campaign face-to-face with the public.

            President Johnson felt strongly that the former Confederate States of America should be reintegrated into the Republic as quickly as possible and without any of the vindictiveness and retribution that many members of Congress advocated.  So President Johnson decided to plead his case directly to the people and ask them to elect a Congress that would favor his policy of a quick and forgiving reunification of the Confederacy into the Union.  A number of dignitaries joined President Johnson on his Swing Around the Circle tour of the Midwest.  Among the invited guests were:  Secretary of State William Seward (organizer of the train trip), Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, Admiral David Farragut, General Ulysses Grant (18^th President, 1869-1877), Ambassador from Mexico Don Mateos Romero, and Major General George Armstrong Custer.¹⁰

            With the ultimate destination being Chicago for a monument dedication, the presidential train left Toledo, Ohio after a short stop there and headed north to Monroe where it arrived at 4:45 p.m. on September 4, 1866.  While it is not known with certainty why the presidential train made an unscheduled stop in Monroe, it is possible President Johnson wanted to let General Custer visit with friends and others who knew him from his adopted home town.  It is reported that a crowd gave General Custer "three cheers when he appeared."  Residents built a platform in the public square near the Monroe County Courthouse where the President spoke from.  President Andrew Johnson would become the first of three presidents to address audiences gathered in Loranger Square.  Secretary of State Seward also spoke to the audience.  It is reported that some people were disappointed because they did not get to see General Grant, who had left the presidential train in Cleveland.  After Secretary Seward spoke, the presidential party boarded the train and left for Detroit.^{10, 11}

           Monroe's second presidential visit also involved Major General George Armstrong Custer --- or more specifically, honoring him.  Circa 1908 a group of local residents banded together and formed the Michigan Custer Memorial Association.  The Michigan Legislature appropriated $25,000 and commissioned Edward Potter to be the monument's sculpture.  The bronze sculpture of Custer seated on a horse, and mounted on a pedestal, was ready for a dedication ceremony fitting the enthusiasm and affection local residents felt for the fallen lieutenant colonel.  The statue's dedication ceremony was given a national audience when it was learned that the 27^th President of the United States, President William Howard Taft (1909-1913), would attend, since he would already be in Michigan on other business.

            On June 4, 1910 a very large crowd packed Loranger Square to listen to President Taft speak from a dais that was built on the front lawn of the Monroe County Courthouse.  While President Taft praised Custer for his leadership during the Civil War, the president said Custer's decade of military service after the Civil War was more noteworthy "He (Custer) was one of that small band of twenty-five thousand men constituting the regular army of the United States, without whose service, whose exposure to danger, whose loss of life and whose hardships and trials, it would not have been possible for us to have settled the great west."  Mrs. Elizabeth Custer unveiled the statue, which stood in the center of Loranger Square.¹⁶  The statue was later moved to its present location at the southwest corner of Elm Avenue and Monroe Street.

            Monroe's next presidential visit also came on a summer day, 80-years later when the 42^nd president of the United States stood and delivered a speech within 30' of where President Taft stood and spoke.  On August 15, 2000 under a blazing sun that saw the heat index reach 101-degrees, at least 17,000 people jammed Loranger Square in downtown Monroe to listen to President William Jefferson Clinton (1993-2001).  In a rare joint appearance, Vice President Al Gore joined the president.  Vice President Gore was campaigning for the presidency and the presidential visit was designed to symbolically pass the political mace of leadership from the president to the vice president.  Besides the rareness of a joint presidential/vice presidential visit, the two executive branch officials were joined by their wives:  First Lady Hillary Clinton (along with daughter Chelsea) and Tipper Gore.  The event was well documented, with more than 200-news representatives were credentialed for the visit, including Japanese t-v network NHK.

            The tightly packed crowd stood shoulder to shoulder north up Washington Street to Front Street, and west to Monroe Street.  President Clinton told the crowd that the views he saw driving into Monroe reminded him of the scenes they saw and the people they met during the bus tour he, his wife Hillary and then Senator Gore and his wife Tipper took as they campaigned for the presidency in 1992.  While in a mood to reminisce, President Clinton stood on the dais on the front lawn of the Monroe County Courthouse and summarized his nearly two-terms in office "Miraculously for us the people of Michigan and the people of Ohio twice gave us the chance to serve.  Al Gore and I have worked for nearly eight-years now to put you first, never to forget about you.  To get the economy going again and to get our society moving in the right direction.  To make us a more united nation, a stronger, a better nation."²⁷

            Three-years later Monroe again added to its distinguished legacy by hosting a fourth presidential visit.  On September 15, 2003, President George W. Bush (2001-2009) came to the city to tour the coal-burning Monroe Power Plant on the shore of Lake Erie.  The 43^rd president was given a tour of what Detroit Edison says is one of the largest coal-fired electrical generating plants in the world.  The president spoke to several hundred employees and invited guests about his administration's proposed changes to air pollution laws.  The commander-in-chief also reminded those gathered of his conviction to keep the nation's security a top priority "The only way to win the war on terror is to stay on the offensive.  But the best way to make sure the homeland is secure, is to hunt these killers down one by one and bring them to justice, which the United States of America will do."^{28, 29}

            The president linked job security and economic prosperity with peoples' and business' ability to have confidence in having reliable sources of energy.  President Bush praised the Monroe Power Plant's employees for playing a significant role in maintaining a healthy economy in Southeast Michigan "For all the workers who work here.  I want you to know that you're providing an important service.  Creating the conditions so people can find a job.  You're working hard to make sure somebody can turn on a light switch and they can realize the comforts of modern life.  Thanks for what you do."²⁹

            The initiative and determined legislative efforts of Michigan Congressman John D. Dingell (D) circulated Monroe's name through the halls of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. during 2006.  The City, collaborating with other local organizations and groups, had been working for a number of years to acquire property where the Battle of the River Raisin was fought.  A major step forward in the lengthy process came on December 30, 2005 when Mayor John Iacoangeli introduced two agreements at a Special City Council meeting.  City Council adopted both agreements.  One agreement transferred the 35.5-acre Battlefield property from a private owner to the Port of Monroe.³³  The second agreement was the River Raisin Battlefield Development Agreement, which created the nonprofit River Raisin Battlefield National Foundation.³⁴  The Foundation will promote public education of the site along with conducting fund-raising for the Battlefield's preservation.

            The River Raisin Battlefield site was on the legislative fast track in 2006.  On April 6, 2006, Congressman John Dingell introduced two bills in the House of Representatives:  the River Raisin National Battlefield Study Act (H.R. 5132) and the River Raisin Battlefield Acquisition Act.  H.R. 5132 quickly became the legislative priority among the two bills.  It directed the National Park Service to study the Battlefield and to make a recommendation whether the site should be included within the National Park System.  Congressman Dingell's persistence was responsible for getting a Congressional hearing scheduled on July 13, 2006 to consider the River Raisin National Battlefield Study Act.  In what may be a first in Monroe's history, Mayor C.D. Cappuccilli joined Congressman Dingell at the table in Room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building to provide oral and written testimony before members of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Committee on Resources.

            Mayor Cappuccilli was not only well prepared for his Congressional testimony, but he also had brought plenty of support with him from Monroe to the Capitol.  The Mayor had organized an endorsement letter-writing campaign as evidence that there was broad local support for seeking Federal protection for the Battlefield site.  Nearly 60-letters of support accompanied the Mayor to Washington.  Community leaders in business, academia, government, nonprofits, and ordinary residents throughout Monroe County and the State wrote letters in support of Congressman Dingell's Battlefield legislation.  The coordinated effort paid off when the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5132 on September 26, 2006.³⁵

            Michigan's two Senators, and a Senator from Kentucky, were also promoting Monroe's Battlefield interests on the Senate side of the Capitol.  Michigan Senators Carl Levin (D) and Debbie Stabenow (D), along with co-sponsor Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning (R), introduced the bill in the U.S. Senate on August 8, 2006.  Four months later, almost to the day, on December 7, 2006 the U.S. Senate passed the bill.³⁶  The bill was then forwarded to the White House for signing by President George W. Bush.  On December 20, 2006 White House Press Secretary Tony Snow released a Statement on Bill Signings that announced "On Wednesday, December 20, 2006 the President signed into law … H.R. 5132."³⁷  On that day the River Raisin National Battlefield Study Act became Public Law 109-429.  Congressman Dingell was optimistic the new law will lead to greater Federal recognition and protection of the site "We are now on our way to bringing a wonderful monument honoring people who sacrificed their lives to secure America’s sovereignty."³⁸

            The speed at which the bill moved through Congress to get to the White House astonished those who are familiar with the normally glacially slow, and often obscure journey a bill can take once it is introduced in Congress.  Most bills that get introduced never make it beyond their early stage in life and end up being held in committee where the bill dies for lack of action.  The fact that this piece of legislation was a stand-alone bill and was of local interest only, without attracting the kind of national attention something like a social security bill might, made its light speed journey from bill into law even more of an amazing peculiarity.

            These are just a few of the people and events that have formed the legacy that Monroe's residents continue to build upon each day.  It is likely that the confluence of geography and the ingenuity of its residents will continue to keep Monroe at the crossroads of opportunity.

Ryan Solomon,

Assistant City Manager

 

Editor's Note:  More information about these and other events in Monroe's past can be found at the Monroe County Historical Museum, 126 South Monroe Street, Monroe, Michigan 48161  (734) 240-7780.

Sources:

¹  Environment Canada and the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency, The Great Lakes:  An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book.  C 1995.+

²  U.S. Department of Agriculture with Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, Soil Survey of Monroe County, Michigan.  C 1981.

³  City of Monroe and Haley and Aldrich of Michigan, Inc., Former Jefferson Smurfitt Corporation East Mill Properties.  10 May 2002.

⁴  Keefer, Kathryn.  The Bloody Stream:  An Archival Excavation of the Battles and Massacre of the River Raisin.  19 June 2003.

⁵  Chamberlin, Dr. Kathleen.  Professor of History, Eastern Michigan University.

⁶  National Park Service Internet site, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana.

⁷  Turrini, Joseph M.   "The Newton Steel Strike:  A Watershed in the CIO's Failure to Organize "Little Steel."  Labor History.  Spring-Summer 1997.

⁸  "Monroe Paper Industry Has Deep Roots," The Monroe Evening News.  7 May 1964.

⁹  Correspondence from U.S.  Post Office Department Official John McLean.  1 May 1824 and 1 July 1824.

¹⁰  Phifer, Gregg.  (Courtesy Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Greeneville, Tennessee, National Park Service), "The Last Stand of Presidential Reconstruction, 1866:  Andrew Johnson's Persuasive Efforts on His Swing Around the Circle."  1947.

¹¹  "The President in Monroe," The Monroe Commercial.  6 September 1866, p. 3.

¹²  Scarpelli, Lisa.  Instructor of Geoscience, Monroe County Community College.

¹³  Halsey, John R.  State Archaeologist, Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries, "Prehistory of Michigan Gallery."

¹⁴  City of  Monroe and Beckett, Raeder, Rankin, Inc., Lake Erie Gateway Development Plan.  August 1980.

¹⁵  Wing, Talcott E.  History of  Monroe County, Michigan.  1890.

¹⁶  Bulkley, John McClelland.  History of Monroe County, Michigan.  1913.

¹⁷  City of Monroe and Haley and Aldrich of Michigan. Inc., "Former Jefferson Smurfitt Corporation East Mill Properties, Monroe, Michigan/Historic Significance of the Frenchtown Settlement and River Raisin Battlefield."  May 2002.

¹⁸  Ottawa County Tourism Bureau, Monroe County Tourism Bureau, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau of  Windsor, Essex County and Pelee Island, "1812 – The Pursuit of Peace."

¹⁹  Zeisler, Karl.  Monroe Evening News, A Brief History of Monroe.  1960.

²⁰  Tenneco Automotive, " Monroe Shock and Struts:  A Heritage of Innovation, Quality and Performance."

²¹  LA-Z-BOY Incorporated, LA-Z-BOY:  Celebrating 75 Years of Comfort.

²²  Dorsch Branch, Monroe County Library System.

²³  Monroe Art and Beautification Fund Committee brochure.

²⁴  The Monroe Evening News.  2 May 1981.

²⁵  Thomson Gale.  Contemporary Authors Online.  2005.

²⁶  DTE Energy.

²⁷  Solomon, Ryan S.  "Passing the Torch," City of Monroe Newsletter The City, Fall 2000, with quotations from videotape of visit.

²⁸  Slat, Charles.  "Bush in Monroe" and "Bush Pushes Pollution Rule Changes," The Monroe Evening News.  15 September 2003.

²⁹  Quotations from President George W. Bush from videotape supplied by DTE Energy.

³⁰  City of Monroe Council Meeting Minutes.  1932, pp. 1,297, 1,300.

³¹  "City to Be Given Many Advantages Because of Field," The Monroe Evening News.  31 December 1928.

³²   "Custer Airfield Will Be Surplus," The Monroe Evening News.  22 September 1945.

³³  City of  Monroe.  "Conveyance Agreement."  2005.

³⁴  City of Monroe.  "River Raisin Battlefield Development Agreement."  2005.

³⁵  Dingell, John D.  "Dingell Praises Passage of River Raisin National Battlefield Legislation."  News Release.  26 September 2006.

³⁶  Library of Congress.  Chronology of H.R. 5132.  From Thomas database.

³⁷  Snow, Tony.  "Statement by the Press Secretary on Bill Signings."  20 December 2006.

³⁸  Dingell, John D.  "Dingell Praises Levin and Stabenow for Getting River Raisin Battlefield Study Act Through U.S.Senate."  8 December 2006.