Monroe Township, Jefferson County, Indiana
Encyclopedia
Monroe Township is one of ten townships
Civil township
A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States, subordinate to, and geographic divisions of, a county. Specific responsibilities and the degree of autonomy vary based on each state. Civil townships are distinct from survey townships, but in states that have both,...

 in Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Indiana
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 32,428. The county seat is Madison.-History:Jefferson County was formed in 1811...

, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. As of the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, its population was 379.

Monroe was the next-to-last township created by the Jefferson County commissioners. It was carved from Lancaster Township on March 11, 1842. Much of township became part of the former Jefferson Proving Ground and a substantial part of the population relocated. As a result, there are few institutions or businesses remaining. The Hebron Baptist and Liberty Christian Churches are the only churches and there are no schools or post offices in Monroe Township.

Monroe has had the following post offices: Alberta: (May 4, 1893-Jan. 31, 1899) Belleview: (March 15, 1890-May 31, 1906). Its name was changed from Mud Lick; Big Creek: (Aug. 11, 1884-Oct. 31 1889). Re-established (Feb. 10, 1891-Apr. 30, 1903); Bryantsburgh (June 10, 1834-Dec. 12, 1856); Re-commissioned (Jan. 18, 1858-Dec. 10, 1872); Re-established (March 1, 1873-July 29, 1907) The name waschanged to Bryantsburg on June 10, 1893; Calloway (May 22, 1893-Apr. 15, 1901); Evans Rural Station (Oct. 1, 1902-Sept. 30, 1934) Faulkner (July 7, 1882-Apr. 30, 1903) How (Dec. 15, 1884-Oct. 15, 1895); Ridpath: (Sept. 17, 1897-April 30, 1903).

Discontinued churches in the township include an Adventist Church that was meeting in the township in 1889. Its dates are not known. The Big Creek Methodist Church was founded about Dec. 5, 1842 when trustees purchased land for a building. Its cemetery was moved to Madison in 1941. Bryantsburg Presbyterian Church, an off-shoot of the Monroe Presbyterian Church, was formed by Sept. 22, 1854 when its trustees acquired land from the parent congregation. Bryantsburg failed by April 30, 1867, when its trustees sold the church property. The Mt. Zion Pilgrim Holiness Church formed by May 2, 1922 when the congregation elected trustees. The Marble Methodist Church, later called Marble Valley and Old Marble, opened on May 28, 1859, according to the June, 2, 1859 issue of the Madison Courier. The Union Methodist Church first elected trustees on March 3, 1855. Located on the east side of the Michigan Road, just south of Belleview, it was still active in 1916.

Another church, the Monroe Presbyterian Church, combined with the Smyrna Presbyterian Church when its site was taken in the creation of the Jefferson Proving Ground. It was originally called Middlefork Presbyterian when the first members joined on Sept. 25, 1830. The name was changed to Lancaster Presbyterian in 1833 as Monroe was still part of Lancaster Township. The church divided on June 22, 1839 with the Old School Presbyterian group calling itself the Lancaster Presbyterian Church and the New School quickly adopting the name Monroe. The bodies united in 1870 under the name Monroe.

The division was formalized on June 22, 1839 when the Old School Group wrote a statement of beliefs and their names in the session book.

The Hebron Church, which still meets in its building on Graham Road, was formed in March 1828. Its church cemetery was founded in 1815 as a community cemetery, but became associated with the church. The Liberty Christian Church in Belleview was founded in 1817 as a New Light Church, a dissident Presbyterian group. It soon became a Disciples of Christ congregation. Originally located on the west side of the Michigan Road, the building was taken by the government in 1941. However, the congregation purchased the structure and relocated it to the east side of the road. Since remodeled, parts of the original church were incorporated in the building.

Geography

Monroe Township covers an area of 36.57 square miles (94.7 km²); of this, 0.02 square mile (0.0517997622 km²) or 0.04 percent is water. The streams of Big Creek, Middle Fork; Toddys Branch and the West Fork Indian-Kentuck Creek run through this township.

Extinct towns

  • Galloways Station. The U.S. board of geographic names is incorrect in labeling this Galloways Station, but has refused to acknowledge the mistake, which appears to be the result of typographical error. It was Calloway Station and the post office was Calloway. The map of Jefferson County in the 1876 Indian Historical Atlas Indiana Board of Tax Commissioners map of ca. 1896 and Galbraith's Railway Service Map of 1897/98 show the location as Calloway or Calloway's Station. In the 1988 edition of the Callaway Journal, a Callaway family publication, it was listed as Callaway's Station.

Adjacent townships

  • Shelby Township, Ripley County
    Shelby Township, Ripley County, Indiana
    Shelby Township is one of eleven townships in Ripley County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 867.-External links:* *...

     (north)
  • Shelby Township
    Shelby Township, Jefferson County, Indiana
    Shelby Township is one of ten townships in Jefferson County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,052.Shelby Township was created from the northern part of Milton Township and the remnant of Pittsburgh Township on Feb. 12, 1823 by the Jefferson County commissioners. The action...

     (east)
  • Madison Township
    Madison Township, Jefferson County, Indiana
    Madison Township is one of ten townships in Jefferson County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 16,770. It was one of three townships created when Jefferson County began operation on Feb. 11, 1811. Prior to that, the area was part of Madison Township Clark County...

     (south)
  • Smyrna Township
    Smyrna Township, Jefferson County, Indiana
    Smyrna Township is one of ten townships in Jefferson County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,065.Created on June 16, 1847 by the Jefferson County Commissioners, Smyrna was the last of Jefferson County's 10 townships to be formed...

     (southwest)
  • Lancaster Township
    Lancaster Township, Jefferson County, Indiana
    Lancaster Township is one of ten townships in Jefferson County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,608.-Geography:Lancaster Township covers an area of ; of this, or 0.17 percent is water...

     (west)
  • Bigger Township, Jennings County
    Bigger Township, Jennings County, Indiana
    Bigger Township is one of eleven townships in Jennings County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 688.-Geography:Bigger Township covers an area of ; of this, or 0.16 percent is water.-Adjacent townships:* Campbell Township...

     (northwest)

Cemeteries

The township contains three cemeteries: Grandview Memorial Garden, Hebron Church and Smith. Grandview is a commercially operated facility that opened in the 1900s. Hebron was the only township cemetery not relocated after the founding of the former Jefferson Proving Ground in 1941. the Smith-Smart Cemetery, which was moved to Graham Rd, north of the Hebron Baptist Church, was originally located on the Michigan Road, near the Bayless Cemetery, which itself was in Madison Township and was also relocated.

Burials in the Baxter, Big Creek, Mt. Monroe, Marble Valley, and Monroe Cemeteries were removed to the east side of the Michigan Road (U.S. highway 421), south of Fairmount Cemetery in north Madison.

Major highways

  • U.S. Route 421
    U.S. Route 421
    U.S. Route 421 is a spur route of U.S. 21. It runs for from Michigan City, Indiana, at U.S. 20, to Fort Fisher in North Carolina. The highway goes through the cities of Indianapolis, Indiana, Lexington, Kentucky, Boone, North Carolina, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina and...

  • Indiana State Road 62
    Indiana State Road 62
    State Road 62 in the U.S. State of Indiana is an east–west route that runs from the Illinois state line in the southwest corner of Indiana to the Louisville, Kentucky area, then northeast toward the Cincinnati, Ohio area.-Route description:...

  • Indiana State Road 250
    Indiana State Road 250
    State Road 250 in the U.S. State of Indiana is a secondary route that runs from U.S. Route 50 in Brownstown eastward toward the Ohio River at State Road 156 in Patriot in southeast Indiana. Towns include Uniontown, Paris Crossing, Canaan, and East Enterprise...


External links

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