Where's Monroe?

Snohomish County in 1887 from a Rand McNally Map of Washington Territory

Click on the above image for the Greater Puget Sound area (212k).

In 1887 there were three areas of settlement in the Monroe area but none were yet called Monroe. Salem Woods settled northeast of Monroe in 1860 on the creek that still bears his name (roughly the "a" in Park Place on the map) and soon other settlers joined him there. Park Place was named in 1864 by Henry McClurg, who had settled near the confluence of the Snoqualmie and Skykomish Rivers in 1860. The above map places Park Place too far to the west. It should be just northeast of the confluence of the Skykomish River with the Snoqualmie and Snohomish Rivers. The map, however, shows the Skykomish as a continuation of the Snohomish, and the Snoqualmie is called the "Sequalmie" where it runs through King County (click on the map above for the larger image of the entire Puget Sound area). The rich farming area just to the south of the Skykomish River and east of the confluence was also quickly settled. Sometimes referred to as "the forks," it was originally called Qualco, which quickly became Tualco. The map locates Tualco too far west and on the wrong side of the river. It should be located just to the north of Cherry Valley in the bite between the Skykomish and Snoqualmie Rivers. The location of Monroe's present-day city center is just under the "P" in "Park Place" on the north side of the Skykomish River. Snohomish is also located too far west; it's location is really that of Cadyville on the map, which was the original name of Snohomish City until 1871.

-map courtesy Howard Voland (cropped for the web)
with thanks to Dee Longenbaugh at The Observatory, ABAA