With the swift approach of “Ringing in the New Year” on Friday that begins a year-long celebration of the Bicentennial of Monroe County’s establishment in 1816, the Republic-Times is introducing a series of articles that will try to offer a sample of the many facets of this county’s history.

We hope to be able to carry the story ahead on a monthly basis, along with a review of Bicentennial events.

Monroe County precedes the establishment of the State of Illinois by two years. Following the Revolutionary War and George Rogers Clark’s establishment of U.S. authority over the region, in about 1790 the area was formed into St. Clair County in the Territory of Illinois. The name derived from the territory’s first appointed governor, Anthony St. Clair.

Later, the area was carved up into three counties, Randolph, St. Clair and then Monroe from those two.

Early settlers to the region had concentrated around forts for protection: Piggot’s Fort near today’s Columbia and other forts at Bellefontaine in today’s Waterloo and New Design, near today’s Burksville.  Several early settlers were Revolutionary War soldiers who received 400-acre grants for their service.

People settled largely along the Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trails.  The higher trail on the bluff is mostly mirrored today by Route 3 and the lower trail became Bluff Road.

Harrisonville was the population center, in the early years as its location, on the banks of the Mississippi River about a mile west of where it is now, made it a commerce center.  There was also an industry there, cutting wood to fuel river steamers.

On Jan. 6, 1816, Monroe County was established.  What we call the Monroe County Board today was called the “Gentleman Judges” — indeed, the three men also served as the county’s court system.

One of their first acts was to establish a going rate for taverns to charge: 12.5 cents per night for a room and bed, 25 cents for a warm meal and 37.5 cents for a beer.  The .5 cent charges were accommodated by there being a half-cent coin until 1857.

Not long afterward, the Gentleman Judges voted to spend $1.50 to purchase a bible to be shared by them.

They never built a courthouse in Harrisonville, instead using tavern meeting rooms for government sessions. But they did vote to build the county’s first jail at Harrisonville in 1818.

Harrisonville’s proximity to the river, which had drawn people, was also its reason for losing the county seat after several floods.  The county seat moved to Waterloo in 1825. The first equivalent of today’s county board meetings in Waterloo took place at Ditch’s Tavern, near where the recently closed firehouse on North Main Street sits. In 1832, the first courthouse was built near where today’s courthouse bandstand sits.  There are no known photos or drawings of what it looked like.

Monroe County produced two of Illinois’ first eight governors, including the first, Shadrach Bond, who was elected in 1818.  Bond’s uncle, also named Shadrach Bond, served with George Rogers Clark and told the younger Bond about the rich bottoms farmland that drew him here. Waterloo attorney Thomas Ford was the eighth governor, from 1842 to 1846.

As reported last week, the Bicentennial of Monroe County will be “Rung In” this Friday at noon in celebrations across the county, as churches and citizens ring bells and celebrate the start of the observance of 200 years of Monroe County.

Visit the Bicentennial Committee’s Facebook site to learn where celebrations will be held across the county. Also, pick up a copy of the 2016 Bicentennial calendar at a number of locations, including the Republic-Times office, to keep abreast of coming activities.

And for an in-depth look at Monroe’s County’s 200 years, head to the Monroe County Clerk’s office and reserve a copy of the two-volume history that will be published at the Bicentennial’s end.