The area surrounding what is now Monument was first settled on in 1852. In a letter written by one of the first settlers, Isaac Vilott, dated June 18, 1869, Mr. Vilott stated that he had been here a week at that time and had only seen 5 other people. Mr. Vilott is credited with giving Monument its name.
The first Post Office was established in October, 1857 with Prior Wilson as the first Postmaster. That is when the town became an actual dot on the map.
The first school was built in 1890, but it burned down. It was rebuilt out of stone from stone quarried from the hills east of Monument, but that also caught fire in 1927. Again it was rebulit in 1928/29. School during this time was held in the church until the rebuilding, but as hard luck would have it, during that time, the church even burned down. But in spite of these hardships, the towns people kept the school going. They kept improving it over the years and today the community of Monument has one of the Best in the county.
In October 1903, a committee appointed by the Presbytery of Eastern Oregon held a meeting to organize a church. On Novemeber 1, l903, the first public worship was conducted in town. James M. Stubblefield was installed as first Elder and clerk of the church. As of 1905 there were five branches in the area where Sunday schools were held. At which time, Henry Gamble who had a sawmill donated the lumber for the first church to be built. There are now three churches in Monument: The Community-Presbyterian Church, which is used by two groups- the Presbyterians, who own it and the Monument Bible Church.
There is aslo the LDS Church and the Catholic Church.The town was growing and was in need of public services such as water and a marshall, and the means in which to pay for them. To make this possible a group of towns people got together in 1904 and requested permission from the County Court to incorporate. In January of 1905 the Country Court granted them permission to hold an election. The election was in favor of incorporation, and on March 1, l905, the Country Court adjudge that the town be declared incorporated under the name of "Town of Monument". But in passing time, this incorporation didn't continue. Whether it was from lack of interest, disagreements or something else is not known.
There wasn't an active council prior to and during the early 40's. Then in 1946 a group of people got together to re-incorporate the city and a meeting was held on December 16, l946 to swear in a city council. And in l947, the City of Monument was once more incorporated. As of today, the City of Monument has an active city council, a city manager, a fire chief, volunteer fire department, a ambulance and volunteer Emt's who are trained through the state and county's ambulance service.
The Monument Emt's worked together for over a year and raised enough money to buy a New Ambulance for Monument. Even though at the time, I myself, was serving Monument as a Emt, I take my hat off to the other Emt's who work with me to complete this task. There were alot of long and hard hours between all of us to raise the money needed to get a New Ambulance.
The Heart of Monument It's School
Monument & Surrounding Areas Economics
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Great Link on Monument's History
