Bicentennial: Louisiana 1812 - KNOE 8 News; KNOE-TV; KNOE.com |

By Larry Rhymes

MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News) - Northeast Louisiana in the days before statehood was a wild environment, accented by thick virgin forest.  The first explorers found most Native American tribes here friendly and willing to establish trade.  The first permanent white residents were mostly French-Canadian trappers.  The population of this part of the state was sparse.

Larry Foreman, Head of Genealogy and Special Collections at Ouachita Parish Library:  "A few hundred here and Mer Rouge, which was one of the first places white explorers came to in this part of the world."

People traveled mainly on rivers and streams.  On land areas there were no roads, only Indian trails suited mainly for walking or horseback.

Foreman:  "This was still pretty much a hunting, fishing and trapping population.  Unlike present day hunters who go in the morning, come home in the afternoon, these guys would be gone for months at a time."

Once the area became a part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the population grew as more governmental control began to take hold.

Foreman:  "The things that had to happen for this to become a community were starting to come into place.  Immigration by 1812 had started to impact the community."

As the forests began to be cleared, agriculture became a way for growers to prosper.

Foreman:  "This was a good place to plant your cotton.  No problem getting it to New Orleans.  As time passed more agriculture sprung up on both sides of the river.  As more and more people got here it got larger and Monroe started to have it's own culture."

The place that became Monroe was named for a paddle-wheel steamboat, The James Monroe, which visited the area in 1819.