The Monroe County Historical Society, a non-profit organization, is sponsoring, compiling and publishing Monroe County... Then and Now in commemoration of the county's upcoming 175th Anniversary in 2006.

Our purpose is to preserve the story of life in Monroe County for the education and enjoyment of future generations. We have a great story to tell about our earliest settlements, the peak population of 1900, survival during the Great Depression, the impact of technological, social
and economic changes after WWII and the changes our small rural communities face in the high tech world of the 21st Century.

We need your help to make this book a complete and accurate historical record of the people and events of Monroe County then and now.

If you or your family are currently living in Monroe County or if you or your family has lived in Monroe County, we want to include your family biography! There is no cost to publish your family's biography with one photo within the 500-word limit. Biographies over 500 words are charged 15¢ per word for each word over the limit. Additional family biography photographs may be included for only $5.00 each. However, residents are urged to submit any interesting historic photos, materials, or articles for possible inclusion in the history chapters of the book free of charge. Material will be reviewed for content and included in the publication based on space availability.

Your business, organization, church or school can help assure we are able to tell the part you now play, or have played in years past, through paid patron pages. Society members can help research and design pages that will not only profile your current importance to the citizens of Monroe County, but help contribute to the overall knowledge about our county-wide timeline 1831-2006. Individuals may honor a loved one with a patron page in addition to the free family profile.

A brochure with complete contact information, sample family profiles, and an order form is available at many area libraries, historical societies, and museums or click here to download a copy and email to distant friends and relatives with ties to Monroe County.

Our Organization:

The Monroe County Historical Society is a non-profit corporation, with perpetual duration, founded September 11, 1967. The purposes of the Society shall be of a non-profit nature and shall be exclusively historical, scientific, educational and charitable. The leading purposes shall be to record, collect, receive, preserve, study, exhibit and share things pertaining to county history. The Society shall also receive and hold property or real estate for the purposes of preserving and exhibiting the materials of county history. It shall disseminate and publish knowledge of county historical things and be empowered to engage in all activities and programs relating to a historical society.

The Society shall have the following specific purposes and powers: to gather and preserve information relative to objects and events of Monroe County; to assume responsibility for proper recognition and preservation of various historical landmarks, relics, souvenirs, antiques, cemeteries, buildings and documents pertaining to county history and to arrange and promote anniversary celebrations and meetings and other social functions to promote anniversary celebrations and meetings and other social functions to honor and preserve the memory of things and persons of the county's past.

It shall be concerned to establish and maintain a Monroe County Museum (currently located in the Monroe County Court House) and to cooperate or affiliate with other associations having like interests. The museum is open during regular business hours of the courthouse. Donations to the museum are considered permanent gifts. To avoid confusion, loans of articles are not accepted.

There are historical, genealogical and cemetery records available for research at the Paris Library. For more information on Monroe County genealogy & history, visit Monroe County MoGenWeb.

Meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each month except July, August and December. The annual dues, payable in October, are $10.00 for an individual or $15.00 for a family. A newsletter will be published quarterly beginning in 2004.

For more information about the Monroe County Historical Society contact Nancy Stone, phone 660-327-5302, email NaNa715@aol.com, or Mary McCollum, phone 660-327-4714, email mcclm@mcmsys.com.