Before the county's formation, the primary settlement was
Frenchtown, which was settled in as early as 1784 along the banks of the
River Raisin. The small plot of land was given to the early
French settlers by the
Potawatomi Native Americans, and the area was claimed for
New France. The settlement of
Frenchtown, Michigan and the slight northerly settlement of
Sandy Creek drew in a total of about 100 inhabitants. During the
War of 1812, the area was the site of the
Battle of Frenchtown, which was the worst American defeat in the war and remains the deadliest conflict ever on Michigan soil. The site of the battle is now part of the
River Raisin National Battlefield Park. Monroe County was formed from the southern portion of
Wayne County in 1817. and became the
county seat of Monroe County. The county and its county seat were named in honor of then-President James Monroe in anticipation of his upcoming visit to the city. When the county was originally formed, it stretched for inland (twice its current size), but the western half was split off to form
Lenawee County in 1826. Monroe County's most famous resident,
George Armstrong Custer (1839–1876), moved to Monroe as a child and lived with his half-sister and brother-in-law. Although not born in Monroe, he attended school in Monroe and later moved away to attend the
United States Military Academy. He returned to Monroe in 1864 during the
Civil War to marry
Elizabeth Bacon (1842–1933), whom he met while previously living in Monroe. Much of Custer's family resided in Monroe, included Elizabeth Bacon,
Henry Armstrong Reed (1858–1876), and
Boston Custer (1848–1876). After their deaths in the
Battle of the Little Bighorn, Henry and Boston were interred and memorialized in Monroe's historic Woodland Cemetery, as are many members of Bacon's family. Although George Custer died in the same battle, he was interred at
West Point Cemetery and Elizabeth Bacon was buried next to him when she died many decades later. In 1910, then-President
William Howard Taft and the widowed Elizabeth Bacon unveiled an
equestrian statue of Custer which now sits at the corner of Elm Street and
Monroe Street in the heart of downtown Monroe.
Border disputes claimed by the State of
Ohio known as the
Toledo Strip When the city of
Toledo was incorporated in 1833, it was part of Monroe County instead of the state of
Ohio. The small strip of land surrounding the
mouth of the
Maumee River was under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Territory, because the borders originally drawn up for the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set a territorial boundary as the southernmost edge of
Lake Michigan. When Ohio became the first in the
Northwest Territory to gain statehood in 1803, the state's northern border claimed this important area, even though the boundaries of the Michigan Territory when it was formally organized in 1805 also included this area. From 1833 to 1836, Toledo belonged to Monroe County, which led to the very heated
Toledo War border dispute between the Michigan Territory and the state of Ohio for the area known as the Toledo Strip. In late 1836, President
Andrew Jackson, who earlier had appointed his brilliant young aide
Stevens T. Mason as the Michigan Territory's "boy governor", intervened to settle the dispute. The federal government gave the Toledo Strip to Ohio in exchange for Michigan getting the
Upper Peninsula, then considered a wasteland, when it became a state on January 26, 1837. While Toledo was part of Monroe County, it surpassed Monroe in terms of size and population. In 1915, Michigan Governor
Woodbridge N. Ferris and Ohio Governor
Frank B. Willis called a ceremonial truce to the border conflict when new state line markers were erected. The new state line at the end of the Toledo War was established at approximately the 41°44' north
latitude line just north of the mouth of the
Maumee River. This gave the river and the city of Toledo to the state of Ohio, but it also created an unintended consequence for a specific area of Michigan. The state line also cut through the smaller
Ottawa River and inadvertently cut off a small section of Monroe County, creating an
exclave known as the "
Lost Peninsula" (). The few Michigan residents that live on the small peninsula must travel south into
Lucas County, Ohio on a 10-minute drive before going north to get back to the rest of Michigan. The Lost Peninsula is administered by
Erie Township and most of the peninsula contains a
marina. Monroe County's boundary remained unchanged from 1837 to 1973, when a final unresolved dispute from the Toledo War was resolved, 136 years after the conflict. Ownership over the very small, uninhabited
Turtle Island in a remote portion of
Lake Erie was disputed for decades after the island's lighthouse was shut down. The island was long controlled by Michigan but still disputed by Ohio. On February 22, 1973, an agreement was met, and state lines were redrawn for the last time to cut exactly through the tiny island, which divided the island between Monroe County and Lucas County.
Erie Township has jurisdiction over the Michigan half of Turtle Island, and the city of Toledo controls the other half. What to do with the island remains a contentious issue since neither side can come to any agreement. Today, the island has several abandoned structures, and the recent building of new structures was halted by a court order.
Economic history , owned by
Detroit Edison, has the tallest structures in Monroe County. Prior to the mid-20th century, Monroe County remained largely
agrarian and was well known for its numerous paper mills—the first of which was founded in 1834. In 1916, August Meyer founded Brisk Blast, which was a
bicycle pump manufacturer that was later expanded to produce
automotive shocks in 1919 as the
Monroe Auto Equipment Company. In 1977, the company merged with the international
Tenneco company. Today, their world headquarters are located in
Monroe Charter Township and continue to manufacture Monroe Shocks and Struts. In 1957, the
Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station first opened in
Frenchtown Charter Township near
Lake Erie. Today, the plant is operated by
Detroit Edison but is entirely owned by parent company
DTE Energy. In 1974, the
Monroe Power Plant, currently the fourth largest coal firing plant in North America, opened. At tall, the dual
smokestacks are visible from over away and are among the tallest structures in the state. A third smokestack—shorter and wider than the other two—was constructed as the plant responds to meet environmental regulations. In 1929, Newton Steel opened a manufacturing plant on Lake Erie in Monroe, and this plant would later be purchased by
Alcoa in 1942, Kelsey-Hayes in 1947, the
Ford Motor Company in 1949 later under their
Visteon division in 2000 and then as the Automotive Components Holdings in 2005. The plant, one of the most prominent manufacturing job in the county, produces various car parts for Ford. The plant itself is also well known for its high level of chemicals that once polluted Lake Erie and the
River Raisin. Although threatened to close, the factory remains open with 1,200 employees. Today the Port of Monroe is still heavily industrialized and various other industries have moved to Monroe County in recent years. In 2001,
Cabela's built a store in
Dundee. As one of the largest stores of its kind, this location is a major tourist destination and has greatly improved the economy of Dundee. The
Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance was also founded in Dundee in 2002. ==Geography==