Monroe County Article written by Thomas V. Bodine, Paris

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was built through Monroe county in 1871, having been commenced in the year of 1869, under the name of the Hannibal & Central Missouri. The county had voted $250,000 at a special bond election held in 1868 and in 1873 held another election transferring its stock to the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Company. The debt was finally discharged in 1891, after having been once refunded.

The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, only four miles of which runs through Monroe county, was completed to Monroe City in 1857.

The first circuit judge of Monroe county was Priestly H. McBride, who moved from Columbia to Paris, where he was elected judge of the second judicial district. He was appointed supreme judge in 1845 and prior to that, in 1830, had been secretary of state under appointment by Governor Miller.

The county's first representative in the legislature was Joseph Stevens. He was succeeded in turn by Major Penn and Jonathan Gore. Charles Flannigan--1844-46--was the first Democratic representative elected from Monroe county. The county was Whig by about two hundred until 1854, when the Know Nothings appeared. After that it was Democratic until the disfranchisement of the reconstruction period and has been Democratic ever since. T. T. Rodes, a Democrat, was elected in 1868, but was denied his seat. Among the succession of representatives are such names as William J. Howell, Walter Robinson, James M. Bean, Samuel Drake, Samuel Rawlings, John Parsons, William Giddings, George W. Moss, and James C. Fox. The county has, almost without exception, elevated good men to the legislature. Ebenezer McBride was the first county clerk and was followed by Major Penn, who served from 1848-1859. Thomas Crutcher, on of the best loved men who ever lived in the county, served in the same office from 1873 to 1886 and was succeeded by James L. Wright, who served until 1898.

The first circuit clerk was Edward M. Holden and the second Thomas S. Miller.

The first county judges were Andrew Rogers, John Curry, and William P. Stephenson.

The first sheriff was William Runkle, the second Pleasant Ford and the most famous, Joel Maupin.

There has been but one legal execution in Monroe county and but one lynching. The execution was that of Thomas Blue, a negro, who was hanged June 21, 1867, for the murder of Wm. Vandeventer and wife, an aged couple living near Florida. The execution occurred beneath a huge elm tree near the bridge on North Main street at Paris, and was witnessed by thousands of people. It was afterwards discovered that Blue was the tool used by two white men, the object being robbery, and for forty years it was impossible to convict a man of capital offense in Monroe county.