The old Monroe Shopping Center now occupies the site of the
Carnation
Condensery (pictured above in about 1925), which was built in
1908. In the early 1920s the concrete
smokestack was built to replace two much shorter metal stacks,
but by the end of the decade the condensery was closed and remained
idle throughout the Depression. During World War II it was
converted to a flax processing plant but burned in a spectacular
fire a few weeks after it opened in 1944. For more information,
visit the Monroe Historical Society webpage devoted to the
Condensery
Smokestack.
Just to the southwest of this park and the smokestack is the
Burlington Northern Mainline, originally the Great Northern
Mainline, which was routed through here in 1891, one mile east of
its expected route through Park Place. As a result this 40-acres
tract of which this park is a part became the center of a
new
town. (The photo below shows Monroe in about 1893 looking
south. The smokestack would be located approximately at center
far left in this photo.) The initial plat was named Tye City in
honor the Great Northern Locating Engineer George Tye. However,
Great Northern named the station stop Wales. Neither Tye City
nor Wales ultimately became the name for the new town because
John Vanasdlen had his store with its post office hauled by
ox team the one mile from Park Place to the new railroad
line in 1893. When Vandasdlen applied for a post office in 1889,
the postal service was not accepting any new two-word post
office names, so instead of being named Park Place the post
office was named Monroe in honor of the nation's fifth
president. With the post office in place by the railroad tracks,
both Tye City and Wales became Monroe. For more information,
visit the Monroe Historical Society webpage devoted to the
Birth of
Monroe.
Another in series of caches that focus on Monroe-area
history. You are looking for a bison capsule "above Lillian" in
Monroe's Traveler's Park, so you'll need to bring your own
pen/pencil.