Monroe, Louisiana

Monroe is the ninth largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana and the namesake of U.S. President James Monroe. It is located east of the Ouachita River in the northeastern portion of Louisiana. According to the 2010 census, the population was 48,815, or a decline of 8.1 percent over the 2000 tabulation of 53,107.

Monroe is heavily African American and Democratic in political orientation. The mayor is the black Democrat Jamie Mayo, who has run unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives. Ouachita Parish, however, is predominantly Republican and was represented from 2008 to 2020 in the Louisiana House of Representatives by the strongly pro-life Frank A. Hoffmann and Jay Morris,an incoming state senator.

Monroe is the home of the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo. To the west of the city is West Monroe, with a population in excess of 13,000. Also located there is the University of Louisiana at Monroe, formerly known as Northeast Louisiana State University.

Early in the 20th century, Joseph A. Biedenharn, the first bottler of Coca-Cola, moved to Monroe from Vicksburg, Mississippi. His home and gardens at 2006 Riverside Drive is a house museum. Until Biedenharn's bottling operation began, Coca-Cola could be procured only at soda fountains. Biedenharn was also one of the founders of Delta Air Lines, which subsequently moved to Atlanta, Georgia.

The principal newspapers in Ouachita Parish are the Monroe News Star and The Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe.

Notable people[edit]

• Jamar Adcock, banker and former state senator
• Charles Anding, former state representative from West Monroe
• Edwards Barham, first Republican state senator since Reconstruction; farmer in Oak Ridge
• Mack Barham, judge of thepub Louisiana 4th Judicial District and Louisiana Supreme Court
• Robert J. Barham, former state senato, farmer in Oak Ridge and younger brother of Edwards Barham
• Evelyn Blackmon, state representative, 1984-1988
• Billy Boles, second youngest person in history to have served in the Louisiana Senate, 1952 to 1956; native of Richland Parish
• Ken Booth, former news director of KNOE-TV
• Edmund Graves Brown, newspaper executive
• William Denis Brown, III, former state senator
• Clifton Ellis Byrd, educator and former president of Louisiana Tech
• Guy Coates, Associated Press correspondent in Baton Rouge; native of Monroe
• John Cooksey, U.S. Representative, 1997-2003
• Zach Dasher, businessman and member of the Duck Dynasty family who ran for Congress in 2014
• Kitty DeGree, real estate developer and the largest donor to the University of Louisiana at Monroe
• Jimmy Dimos, state representative, 1976 to 1999; judge of 4th Judicial District, 1999-2006
• Michael Echols, state representative for District 14
• Friday Ellis, current Monroe mayor
• John C. Ensminger, state representative, 1972 to 1991; state senator, 1991-1992
• Robert Ewing, I, newspaper publisher
• Robert Ewing, III, newspaper executive and photographer
• Lee Fletcher, Republican politician; narrowly lost 2002 race for U.S. Congress
• H. Lawrence Gibbs, member of both houses of state legislature, 1952 to 1980
• Paul Goldman, radio and television broadcasting executive
• Moon Griffon, statewide radio talk show host formerly based in Monroe but subsequently relocated to Lafayette
• Greg Hilburn, journalist
• Frank A. Hoffmann, state representative for District 15, 2008 to 2020
• Fred Huenefeld, political activist
• John S. Hunt, attorney and public service commissioner, 1964-1972
• Johnny Huntsman, founder of the regional pizza chain, Johnny's Pizza
• Lanny James, radio and television sports personality
• Greta Jones, Republican political activist
• Kay Katz, state representative from 2000 to 2012; former Republican national committeewoman for Louisiana
• J. E. Keeny, president of Louisiana Tech University from 1908 to 1926; former educator in Monroe
• Wendell Manning, judge of the Louisiana 4th Judicial District for Ouachita and Morehouse parishes
• Jay Morris, Republican state representative
• James A. Noe, interim governor in 1935, owner of KNOE radio and television stations, and farmer
• Fred M. Odom, judge of the 4th Judicial District Court, 1908-c. 1916; later a Louisiana Supreme4 Court associate justice; died in Monroe in 19606
• Hugh G. Parker, Jr., architect
• Otto Passman, U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 5th congressional district, 1947 to 1977
• Sol Rosenberg, Monroe industrialist and Holocaust survivor
• Don Shows, legendary high school football coach
• Frank Spooner, Republican national committeeman and 1976 congressional candidate
• Lawson Swearingen, former state senator and former president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe
• Dale Thorn, journalist and academic
• George T. Walker, president from ULM from 1958 to 1976
• Mike Walsworth, real estate developer, former state representative, former state senator
• W. E. Whetstone, businessman and local and state education board member