Scenically set against the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Monroe is located in southern Snohomish County, near where the Snoqualmie and Skykomish Riv ers join to form the Snohomish. Home of Native American villages for thousands of years, white settlement began in 1860. Henry McClurg, one of the first settlers, claimed land along the river and in 1864 established the settlement of Park Place. TheHistorical Monroe settlement remained nothing more than a few cabins, a school and a post office until the late 1880s when rumor of a railroad circulated. A building boom ensued, with construction of a store, hotel, saloon and community hall. The post office name was changed to Monroe in 1890 to honor President James Monroe, someone McClurg admired. When the Great Northern Railroad located a mile to the north, much of the town was relocated there, including the Monroe post office, from which the new town was given its name. About this time Snohomish County located a poor farm (now the Evergreen Fairgrounds) and hospital just west of town.