Monroe

Monroe, city, seat (1807) of Ouachita parish, northeastern Louisiana, U.S., on the Ouachita River, opposite West Monroe. It was founded in 1785, when a group of French pioneers from southern Louisiana under Don Juan (later John) Filhiol, a Frenchman in the Spanish service, established Fort Miro (1791) as a trading post on a land grant obtained from King Charles X of Spain. Originally called Prairie de Canots, or “Prairie of the Canoes,” it was renamed in 1819 to honour the arrival of the James Monroe, the first steamboat to ascend the river. In August and September 1863, the city was the site of two minor conflicts during the American Civil War.

Monroe and West Monroe are the focus of manufacturing and commerce for the surrounding rural parishes, where cattle raising predominates. Paper products are the mainstay of the city’s lumber industry, and the large Monroe gas field nearby (discovered 1916) supports chemical and carbon-black industries. The city is the seat of the University of Louisiana at Monroe (1931). Several recreational areas are in the vicinity, notably D’Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge to the northwest and Russell Sage Wildlife Management Area to the east. Inc. 1820. Pop. (2000) 53,107; Monroe Metro Area, 170,053; (2010) 48,815; Monroe Metro Area, 176,441.