MONROEVILLE

NAME: Monroeville COUNTY: Glenn ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Cool foggy winter, very hot in summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Falll and spring are the most pleasant seasons.

COMMENTS: Restored Monroeville Cemetery. From Hamilton City, travel south on state highway 45 about 5 miles. Look for the William Ide Monument on the east side of the highway. Turn off on dirt road...travel 0.3 of a mile to cemetery. REMAINS: Restored cemetery. Grave of William Ide of the "Bear Flag Revolt"

Monroeville was a early California town. It was founded by U.P. Monroe in 1850 on the west bank of the Sacramento River. When Colusi [now Colusi] County was created as one of the 27 original counties in California, Colusa and Monroeville were the only communities of any size in the county. Elections where held to select a county seat and Monroeville won, supposedly because more people were passing through at the time. Court was held in a building called "Monroehouse" which doubled as a roadhouse, hotel, and bar. Monroehouse was built out the remains of the steamboat "California" which wrecked nearby in the Sacramento River. The main individual in Monroeville's history was William Ide. William Ide is a famous figure in California's history because he is associated with the "Bear Flag Revolt" in Sonoma in 1846. Ide was President of the short lived California Republic. Twenty three days later, Sloat landed in Monterey and raised the stars and stripes. When the counties where being organized in 1850, Ide was called to Monroeville to help establish Colusi County. As the population of the community was very transient, no one was available to run the county. There fore, Ide served as judge, Treasurer, and Deputy Clerk at the same time. He died in Monroeville in 1852 of smallpox. Dissatifaciton with Monroeville as county seat was building and in 1853, the government of Colusa County was moved to the community of Colusa, where it remains today. Monroeville continued its existance through the 1860's and 1870. By the 1880's its decline had begun. By,1890, it was no longer listed in the US Census and by the dawn of the 20th Century, it was gone. Throughout the 20th Century, the cemetery of Monroeville was the victim of vandalism and agricultural bulldozing. In 1977, during one such bulldozing the members of the Colusi County Historical Society protested and had it stopped. The Monroeville Cemetery eventually was deeded to the County of Glenn (Monroeville's present location). In 1980, archaelogists from California State University, Chico and later Butte College located and restored the graves of the cemetery, including that of William Ide. The cemetery was rededicated in August 1998. Submitted by: Tim Blomgren

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