Monticello, Missouri
| Monticello, Missouri | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
Lewis County Courthouse, October 2014
|
|
 Location of Monticello, Missouri |
|
| Coordinates: 40°7′4″N 91°42′51″W / 40.11778°N 91.71417°WCoordinates: 40°7′4″N 91°42′51″W / 40.11778°N 91.71417°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Missouri |
| County | Lewis |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.26 sq mi (0.67 km2) |
| • Land | 0.26 sq mi (0.67 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) |
| Elevation | 640 ft (195 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 98 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 98 |
| • Density | 376.9/sq mi (145.5/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 63457 |
| Area code(s) | 573 |
| FIPS code | 29-49592 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0722546 |
Monticello is a village in Lewis County, Missouri, United States, along the North Fabius River. The population was 98 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Lewis County. According to the 2010 UC census, Monticello is the county seat with the smallest population in the State of Missouri. The town is named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson's estate in Virginia. Monticello is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Following the establishment of Lewis County on January 2, 1833 two commissioners, Stephen Cleaver and Joshua Fensel, were tasked with finding a suitable location for the county seat. They passed on selecting already established villages like Tully and Canton along the Mississippi River and instead selected a location near the geographic center of the new county. An early settler, Andrew P. Williams, donated sixty acres of land and the town was laid out in the fall of 1833. However it would not be surveyed until the next year.
The county court appointed Judge J.A. Richardson the task of selecting lots upon which to build the courthouse, county jail, a schoolhouse, and church. The streets of the new county seat were also to be named, with those running north to south being Decatur, Jackson, Perry, Washington, and Water, while the east-west cross streets were christened Benton Clay, Greene, Jefferson, and Lafayette. The first houses were built in the town by William Graves, James H. McBride, and William P. Richardson very soon after the town was laid out. A hotel owned by William Ellis would follow. The first Lewis County courthouse in Monticello was a single-story primitive log structure which stood about 100 yards from he current courthouse site. Completed by June, 1834, it was used only until a more substantial two-story brick courthouse could be built in 1839. Despite the North Fabius being navigable only by rafts, flatboats, and assorted small craft Monticello at first did a thriving business as a supply point for central and western Lewis County, as well as portions of neighboring Knox and Scotland counties.
...
Wikipedia