Monroe City, Texas

For the city formerly known as Monroe, Texas, see New Deal, Texas.

Monroe City, Texas
Unincorporated community
Monroe City Monroe City
Coordinates: 29°47′06″N 94°35′07″W
Country	United States
State	Texas
County	Chambers
Elevation	26 ft (8 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code	409
GNIS feature ID	1341804

Monroe City is an unincorporated community in Chambers County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 90 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metro area.

History

The town was founded following the 1935 discovery of the Anahuac oilfield and was named for Monroe White, a well-known resident. Sun Oil and Gulf Oil were the next two companies with significant stakes in the Anahuac field, after the Humble Oil and Refining Company (now known as ExxonMobil). H. S. Sterling opened a store at the oilfield camp by the end of 1935, and the post office in Monroe City opened the following year. According to some accounts, the town had 300 residents by 1939. Monroe City included a camp for the Brown and Root firm, a lumberyard, a few stores, and housing for oilfield workers by 1940. The population fell to 90 by 1970 after the boom faded, from 120 in the late 1940s. It remained at 90 through 2000. It produced well over 270 million barrels of crude oil by 1985; a plaque from the Texas State Historical Association (later the Texas Historical Commission) commemorates the field. The population went down to 11 in 2010.

Geography

Monroe City is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 1724 and Texas State Highway 124, 39 mi (63 km) southwest of Beaumont, 55 mi (89 km) east of Houston, and 6 mi (9.7 km) east of Anahuac in central Chambers County.

Education

Anahuac Independent School District operates schools in the area.