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Monroe's Paper Industry |
Monroe has long been known for its paper industry, having become in recent years a center for one of the largest concentrations of paper board manufacture in the world. Monroe's original fame in the paper making came, however, from the manufacture of newsprint and of wrapping paper made of straw. The first newsprint mill in the middle west was located on the south bank of the River Raisin, five miles west of this point by Christopher McDowell of New York in 1838. Later the first straw paper produced commercially in the united states was manufactured there. Early newspapers of middle west and far west were printed on the high quality rag paper made at the McDowell mill. |
Masonry In Monroe |
Ten Freemasons petitioned the Grand Lodge of New York on October 29, 1824 to hold a lodge at Monroe. The prayer was granted and on June 29, 1825 Monroe Lodge No. 375 was duly constituted. In 1826 the Lodge joined with four other lodges in the Michigan Territory to form the Grande Lodge of Michigan and General Lewis Cass, Territorial Governor, became the first Grand master. During this anti-Masonic period, the Grand Lodge and all of its subordinate lodges, except Stony Creek, suspended labor for eleven years. The Grand Lodge re-opened in 1841 and Masonic Lodge No. 27 received a charter January 9, 1849. The Lodge has had a continuous existence and whole some growth ever since. The present Temple was dedicated March 25, 1931.
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Macon Indian Reserve |
Hull's Treaty of 1807 gave the Pottawatomie and other Indian tribes nine sections of land in Dundee Twp., "where the Macon flows into the River Raisin". Main Street, Neiman, Day and Dundee-Azalia Roads were the original boundaries. The Indians donated three sections to the Church of St. Anne and its college in Detroit in 1817. They exchanged 5 1/2 sections in 1827 for St. Joseph County land. Pottawatomie Chief Moran extinguished Indian rights to the land in 1835 by selling the remaining 1/2 section for $450.00, Nathaniel Graves, the first white man to own land on the reserve, build his farmhouse here in 1836. |
Lutherans In Monroe County |
German pioneers who began settling this area in 1828 formed Monroe County's first Lutheran church here in 1834. The Rev. Friedrich Schmid became their first pastor, traveling by horseback from Ann Arbor. The growing congregation incorporated as Zoar Church in 1838 and built a log church. Trinity and Zion in Monroe, Holy Ghost in Raisinville, and Immanuel in Ida all developed from Zoar by 1849. Zoar became St. Paul's Lutheran in 1858, completing a one-room brick church here in 1860. The larger church built here in 1973 testifies to the enduring faith of this Lutheran country congregation. |
LA-Z-BOY Chair Company |
A small factory built on this site in 1927 was the beginning of the La-Z-Boy Chair Company. Two cousins, Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J. Shoemaker, patented the ideas of a reclining chair in 1929. Floral City Furniture Co. was the original enterprises which led to formation of the La-Z-Boy Chair Company on April 29, 1941. Directors were E.M. Knabusch, E.J. Shoemaker, H.F. Gertz, O.C. Uecker, and O.H. Sessions. During World War II, La-Z-Boy leased its factory for production of tank seats and other war equipment. Chair production resumed in 946. Reclina-Rocker was introduced in 1960, making expansion necessary. In 1963, La-Z-Boy purchased the Weis facility in Monroe while expanding to other U.S. locations. Edward Knabusch was succeeded as president by his son Charles in 1972. Floral City Furniture store closed in 1974, to make space for the World Headquarters. By 1978, when manufacturing ceased in Monroe, La-Z-Boy had 10 factories and numerous licensees around the world. |
LaPlaisance Bay Settlement |
When the War of 1812 began, LaPlaisance Bay Settlement consisted of 14 homes along the creek. Medard Labadie, considered a hero for his participation in the Battles of the River Raisin and these at Fort Meigs and Thames, was a French settler here. here the American army came onshore after its march on ice covered Lake Erie from the Maumee River to the River Raisin, January 18, 1813. After stopping to eat lunch and organize, the army successfully attacked the British and Indian positions at Frenchtown. Monroe's first deep-water harbor developed from improvements begun here in 1826 by the LaPlaisance Bay Harbor Company and later the Federal Government. |
Lake Erie's Marshes |
Far-famed as a natural refuge of wildfowl, with their wild rice and lotus beds, the Monroe Marshes from an early day provided feasts and recreation for residents and visitors. Hunting clubs brought members from many states to shoot ducks and geese, enjoy old French hospitality and relish the Frenchman's favorite dish, the muskrat, prized for its meat and fur. Millions of migratory birds still pass along the Erie shores spring and fall. they afford extraordinary spectacles for watchers and attract hunters from afar to the remaining marches. While much of the shore land has been drained and industrialized or colonized, the State of Michigan owns and maintains the beaches of Sterling State Park and the marshes of Point Mouillee 12 miles north of Monroe. The American Lotus, the nations largest aquatic flower, blooms annually and is best viewed during the months of July and August in many areas of the Lake Erie shoreline. |
J. Sterling Morton |
From Vermont and Conn. ancestors of J. Sterling Morton migrated to Adams, N.Y., where he was born April 22, 1832. Two years later the Morton family chose Monroe as the city with the best prospects in the West. Sterling's father, Julius Dewey Morton, prospered in a mercantile business founded on Monroe's active port. Young Morton grew up in Monroe and Detroit newspaper office. Later he homesteaded in Nebraska founded the Nebraska City News, became a territorial legislator and secretary on the minority side as a conservative, sound money Democrat. In 1893 Grover Cleveland named him Secretary of Agriculture. In 1872 he founded Arbor Day, the only national holiday initiated by one man, now celebrated on his birthday in most states and often heralded as the beginning of the conservation movement. His son, Paul, served as Secretary of the Navy in Theodore Roosevelt's Cabinet. Two other sons, Joy and Mark, founded the Morton Salt Co. his fourth son, Carl, founded the Argo Starch Co. |
Indian Attack |
The second battle of the River Raisin, January 22, 1813, found nearly 400 American soldiers caught in retreat down this, the old road to Ohio. Those few who made it to this point, over a mile south of their camp, were ambushed by hidden Indians. The 40 American bodies found here bore witness to the ferocity of the attack. The retreat was a disaster for the American army at Frenchtown. Out of the 400 men who fled, only 33 escaped. About 147 were captured and as many as 220 were killed by the pursuing Indians. |
IDA Village |
A day's ride from the River Raisin stood the Ida Inn. Settlers build log cabins around the inn and farms appeared along the old country roads. The Inn, later to become the train station and post office, was purchased, along with its surrounding lands, by Henry Rauch. By 1860, the area was no longer wilderness frontier, but a thriving town with a steady stream of newcomers coming by rail to work in the quarry, or shops, and to farm. By 1868, the village was platted in the northwest corner of the township, securely nestled amidst lush green farms. |
IDA Township |
Named for Ida M. Taylor in 1837, the township became important to the Western migration. Small farms were scattered along rough corduroy roads build upon ancient Indian trails. A day's journey by horse-drawn coach was eight miles of road pitted by large sinkholes. Farmers could earn extra money pulling the coaches from holes which they often maintained well into dry weather. In 1837, the state provided land and money for a railroad system to promote immigration. By 1841, the horse drawn Lake Erie and River Raisin line was incorporated into the Michigan Southern with rails from LaPlaisance Bay to Adrian. This became an east-west arm of the Erie Canal route. |
Historical Museum |
The Monroe County Historical Society began to collect local historical artifacts in 1938, housing them in storied homestead, the Sawyer House on East Front Street, before presenting them to the Historical Commission established in 1967 by Monroe County. By 1972, through a generous gift, the Commission could purchase this imposing building, formerly the U.S. Post Office erected in 1913. It was on this site that Elizabeth Bacon Custer was born, daughter of Judge Daniel S. Bacon. Here Libbie's romance with the dashing George Armstrong Custer flourished. After the Civil War, whenever his Army duties did not station themselves elsewhere, she and the General made their home here. |
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