Monroe County, Ohio

Monroe County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Woodsfield
Year Organized: 1813
Square Miles: 456

Court House:

101 N. Main Street, Room 12
County Courthouse
Woodsfield, OH 43793-1070

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents named the county in honor of James Monroe, the current United States Secretary of State and eventually the fourth president of the United States.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On January 29, 1813, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Monroe County. Residents named the county in honor of James Monroe, the current United States Secretary of State and eventually the fourth president of the United States. The county used to be parts of Belmont, Guernsey, and Washington Counties.

Monroe County is located in eastern Ohio. The county’s eastern border lies along the Ohio River. It is predominantly rural, with less than one percent of the county’s 456 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county is also in the heart of Appalachia. The county seat is Woodsfield. With a population of 2,598 people, Woodsfield was the county’s largest community in 2000. Like many of Ohio’s more rural counties, Monroe County’s population has declined in recent years. Between 1990 and 2000, the county’s population declined by two percent, reducing the total number of residents to 15,180 people in 2000. The county averages thirty-three people per square mile, making it one of Ohio’s least populous counties.

Agriculture is the largest employer in Monroe County, with manufacturing a close second. No other occupation draws more than one thousand workers. During the nineteenth century, county residents earned money especially through oil and gas drilling and coal mining. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was 17,702 dollars, with 16.9 percent of the people living in poverty.

Most voters in Monroe County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have supported Democratic Party candidates by slim margins at the national level.

Frontiersman Lewis Wetzel ranks as one of the county’s more famous residents

Sources

Monroe County, Ohio History Central, July 24, 2008,

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1980&nm=Monroe-County

Neighboring Counties:

Belmont County (north)
Marshall County, West Virginia (northeast)
Wetzel County, West Virginia (east)
Tyler County, West Virginia (southeast)
Washington County (south)
Noble County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Adams	township
- Antioch	village	Incorporated Area
- Beallsville	village	Incorporated Area
- Center	township
- Clarington	village	Incorporated Area
- Graysville	village	Incorporated Area
- Jerusalem	village	Incorporated Area
- Lee	township
- Lewisville	village	Incorporated Area
- Malaga	township
- Miltonsburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Ohio	township
- Seneca	township
- Stafford	village	Incorporated Area
- Summit	township
- Sunsbury	township
- Switzerland	township
- Wilson	village	Incorporated Area
- Woodsfield (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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