Monroe County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on January 14, 1799 from parts of Greenbrier County.  According to the national census of 1800, Monroe County had a population of 4,188, the 9th largest population of the 13 counties in existence in the present state of West Virginia.  According to the 2000 census, Monroe county had a population of 13,510.

     The County was named in honor of James Monroe (1758 - 1831), who was serving as the Governor of Virginia when the new county was formed.

    Thomas Batt, Robert Fullman and Thomas Wood were the first Englishmen to set foot in present day Monroe County.  They explored the area in 1671.  John Moss was the first permanent English settler in the county.  He built a cabin near Sweet Springs in 1760.  Christian Peters moved into the county in 1770, near the present site of Peterstown.  That same year, a group of settlers, Adam and Jacob Mann, Valentine Cook, John and George Miller and Issac Estill, moved into the county and built Mann's Fort.  A survey completed in 1744 indicated that there were 54 families living in the county.  The county's first school opened in 1795, with Samuel Harper serving as the schoolmaster.

     Monroe County is home to the Rehoboth Church, the oldest Methodist church west of the Alleghenies.  The church is in an almost perfect state of preservation and is located just east of Union on WV Route 3.

     The county was also the home of Andrew S. Rowan, the Spanish-American war hero who was immortalized in Elbert Hubbard's "A Message to Garcia."

     Union, the county seat of Monroe County, was settled in 1774 by James Alexander.  The town was charted by the Virginia General Assembly in 1799 and laid out on James Alexander's land.  In 1800, he donated land for a Courthouse.   The town was named Union because it was a rendezvous site where the troops would gather (forming a union) during the French and Indian Wars.

     Manufacturing, Educational, Health and Social Services, Retail Trade and Farming and Government are the leading employers in the county.

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