Warren County, Monroe

The City of Monroe


Richard E. Hunter
February, 1974
When one hears mention the town of Monroe, one immediately thinks about a place in Union County in the southwestern part of the state. There was once a Monroe in Warren County located ont he stage road to Petersburg on the Roanoke River. The town was located on land bought by Clack Robinson from Jesse Moseley for 1000 pounds Current Money.(ref 2) When Clack Robinson bought this land he changed the name of Moseley's Ferry to robinson's Ferry. Robinson held this property and bought other properties until 1818 when he sold lots for the town of Monroe. On June 10, 1818, Clack robinson offered for sale 102 lots in his town at Robinson's Ferry. Each lot was one quarter acre in size and included to the purchaser full use of the springs that were on the lots. All but forty four of these lots are recorded in the Rigester of Deeds Office. These forty four missing lots were either not recorded or Clack Robinson did not sell them at first waiting for the price to go up as the town began to grow. (ref3)

The town did grow and had a tavern, post office and a storehouse. Clack Robinson was the first Postmaster of Monroe. He was followed by William W. Parks on February 27, 1829, and then by Austin C. Patillo, May 28, 1833. The Post office was discontinued on April 30, 1835. (ref 4)

There were several taverns located here. Manley Wade Wellman's book on Warren County says Clack Robinson kept a tavern where John Marshall, Cheif Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Aaron Burr stayed (ref 5). In a 1926 article Charlotte Story Perkinson wrote on Monroe, she allueded to the fact George Washington also spent the night here while waiting for the river to go down.(ref 6)

The post office could have possibly been at the same location as the tavern. Two of the postmasters were also tavern keepers. One of the earliest taverns was operated by Clack Robinson. He obtaineda tavern bond on February 23, 1819, to operate a tavern in his house in Warren County (ref 7) Another early tavern was operated by Augustine C. Pattillo, (who applied for a) tavern bond on February 25, 1833. (ref 8). Another tavern was located on property belonging to William Gholson. On June 17, 1841 Thomas Gholson sold Calck Robinson a tavern that belonged to his father William Gholson. William Gholson bought lot #5 with Robert R. Johnson on June 10, 1818 when Clack Robinson first sold his lots. This could have been where the tavern was located. {ref 10}. Robert R. Johnson could have run the racetrack that was located here. He and his brother William R. Johnson were both horse enthusiasts.

When the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad came through the small town of Macon, Monroe began to dwindle. The railroad began to take away the travel that was going through Monroe. As the town began to decline buildings were torn down and moved to other locations throughout the county. In the bulletin on the 100th anniversary of Gardner's Baptist Church it states the first church was built in 1824 with lumber from an old Monroe storehouse. (ref 6)

One of the few remaining evidences of Monroe is a weight with the number 56 stampted on it. It was probably used to weigh tobacco in one of the arehouses. All that is left at the site of the town is a rock lined well, a few old bricks where a foundation once was and some grape vines runnign wild up trees.


REFERENCES


1. Warren County Record of Deeds, Book 17 page 423.
2. Warren County Clerk of Court, Book 5, page 59.
3. Warren County Record of Deeds, Book 21 page 22.
4. Wellman, The County of Warren, p.262.
5. Wellman, The County of Warren, p. 96-97
6. Article by Charlotte Story Perkinson.
7. Warren County Clerk of Court, Book 21 page 296.
8. Warren County Clerk of Court, Book 34 page 126.
North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Tavern Bonds 1830.
10. Warren County Record of Deeds, Book 21 page 366.