Monroe City Map Poster

About Monroe

Monroe is the parish seat of Ouachita Parish. The city is located on the Ouachita River at its confluence with the Black and Atchafalaya rivers, near Louisiana's border with both Arkansas and Texas. It has been historically known as "The Queen City". Monroe was founded by European Americans in 1817 to establish a regional trading center for cotton produced in neighboring areas of northeast Louisiana (then part of Missouri Territory). By 1860, Monroe had become an important market town serving nearby plantations; it also became a port from which riverboats could reach New Orleans. In 1835, Fulton and Woodworth opened what would become one of North America's largest flour mills just north of downtown Monroe; it operated until 1922 when it burned down after years under different ownerships/names (the site today houses some offices for local businesses).