This list represents a small sampling of the stories collected by and available through the Monroe Historical Society. The first fourteen selections are a series wonderfully written and colorful stories entitled Memories of Long Ago, by Hiram Ellsworth Pearsall and published in the Monroe Monitor in 1944. Pearsall was both an eyewitness to and very much involved with Monroe’s early history. His Memories have been quoted from extensively in many articles on local history but have not been readily available in their entirety until Nellie Robertson took the time to transcribe them from the original newspapers. They are also in a bound notebook available to the public at the Monroe Historical Museum. The additional stories are from a variety of sources.
Hiram Ellsworth Pearsall is pictured here with George Walters.
- 1. Cry for Water
- 2. Salem Woods
- 3. Judge Sorenson’s Court
- 4. Cussin’ Oxen
- 5. Picking Hops
- 6. First County Railroad
- 7. Moving the Post Office
- 8. The Shingle Bolt War
- 9. Woods Creek Gimlet
- 10. Babe
- 11. The First Donkey Engine
- 12. The Brick Business
- 13. Wagner School District
- 14. That Great Fir Tree
- Tualco Grange
- The Race
- Wagner and Wilson
- The Fair
- The Condensery Smokestack
- The Big Snow of 1916
- Sol Duc Oil Company
- Service Station Beginnings
- School District No. 2
- “Bearcat” Bercot
- Birth of Monroe
- Camp-Riley Drug Company
- First Churches
- First Highways
- Great Northern Greenhouses
- Shannahan Cabin
- Monroe’s Banks