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LITTLE GREEN VALLEY
NOW & THEN
By Beatrice L. Bridges
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Soft Cover 8.5 X 11 120p Copyright 2001 Private Printing
ISBN 1-888106-37-9 Library of Congress 2001089280
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MAIN STREET MONROE A BRIEF HISTORY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MAIN STREET MONROE
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Picture taken at 200 South and first West, year 2000.
MONROE UTAH. A BRIEF HISTORY
Elevation 5,210 Population 1845 – Census 2000
Little
Green Valley nestled below majestic Monroe Mountain.
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Famous for its hot springs, Monroe, Utah, is a beautiful little farming
community nestled beneath majestic snow capped Monroe Mountain, and surrounded
by the Fish Lake National Forest. Located four miles east of Highway 89 and ten
miles south of Richfield, it was to Monroe that for many years people came to
bathe in the hot mineral water to heal ailments.
Monroe was first settled in 1864 by a man named Walter Barney, who answered
the call of the great Mormon leader Brigham Young to settle Sevier Valley.
Walter Barney set out alone walking beside his ox-team and wagon. Along the way
he was joined by thirty-two families, whose entire world possessions were
carried in the wagons.
Tired and weary, they stopped by a pulsing stream of life-giving water as it
zigzagged through the sagebrush, and made camp. They called their new home
"Alma" after the Book of Mormon prophet. Trouble with the Indians
became so serious by 1866, they were forced to move to Richfield and other
towns. A year later in 1867, Brigham Young ordered the people to vacate Sevier
Valley as the Indian trouble became even more serious. The company of people
leaving totaled over 200 wagons.
In 1871 some of the settlers returned and built permanent homes. Education
was top priority for the children. As soon as they were settled, they began
holding school in a room of several homes. Among the first school teachers were
Clarinda Washburn, Ellen Lisonbee, Curtis Colton, Lewis Barney, and Mary Casto.
When Alma was first surveyed by Ed Fox, the town’s name was changed to
Monroe, in honor of United States President James Monroe. This decision was made
because another town in Utah was also named Alma.
The first United States Post Office was installed in Monroe in 1872. In 1888,
the town incorporated.
Today Monroe is a modern thriving community, still embracing to its pioneer
traditions of concern and caring for those in need.
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Monroe Salutes Hardy Pioneer Settlers
Small central Utah town pulls out all the stops in celebrating its heritage
By John Keahey, The Salt Lake Tribune, July 25, 2001
MONROE. It was not quite 8 a.m. on Tuesday, and this hamlet started to
fill with people, vintage cars and horses. With the smell of freshly mown
alfalfa hanging in the air, there was anticipation of a full day and evening of
events celebrating Utah's settlers.. . .While the arrival of pioneers in the
Salt Lake Valley 154 years ago is the reason for the three-day celebration here
and all around Utah, Monroe-area residents have a lot of their own heritage to
commemorate as well. . . When most of the original settlers returned six years
later, the town was renamed in honor of U.S. President James Monroe. The town is
one of many scattered throughout Sevier County that inadvertently figured in
momentous historical events. " . . .
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Monroe was still quite young when I was born on June 3,1916
right here in Monroe, Sevier County, Utah. I was raised, educated and graduated
from Monroe High School in 1935, (now known as south Sevier High school) and
also graduated from two years of L.D.S. Seminary. Although these were the
infamous depression years, when we children often wore pieces of cardboard in
our shoes to cover the holes, and ate "Lumpy Dick Mush" for breakfast,
lumpy dick mush consisting of flour stirred first in cold water and then into
boiling salted water, and tasting very much like the paste used at school, we
were blessed to have milk and sugar to put on it.
—Beatrice L. Bridges
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