West Monroe is a city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. It is situated on the Ouachita River, across from the neighboring city of Monroe. The twin cities of Monroe-West Monroe began when Don Juan Filhiol was hired to establish Fort Miro as a Spanish presence on the north Ouachita River. Fort Miro became Monroe in May of 1819 to honor President James Monroe and the first steamboat to travel up the Ouachita to North Louisiana. West Monroe was originally laid out in 1837 as Byron by John Campbell at the foot of the ferry landing to Monroe, the town floundered and Campbell went bankrupt. The area was bought by Christopher Dabbs, a doctor from Virginia who submitted the plans for the town of Cotton Port in 1854; it was officially recognized in 1859. It too languished until the arrival of the Vicksburg, Shreveport, & Texas Railroad and the construction of the bridge over the Ouachita. Cotton Port boomed as a river port and rail depot. West Monroe received its name in 1880 from railroad workers (Wikipedia, 2019).
Citation
Wikipedia. (2019, Oct. 9). West Monroe, Louisiana. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
How it all Began 