MONROE - A piece of Monroe history is being readied for the auction block.
The city's Public Property Committee determined in March to sell off the southern half of the old Market Square. The two pieces of undeveloped real estate lie on the south side of 15th Street and on either side of 16th Avenue, south of the Monroe Middle School. Each quarter block is about 17,000 square feet.
But by June 3, city staff members informed the committee that the city does not have clear title to these properties - or, at least, it has no documentation indicating possession of a clear title.
City Attorney Rex Ewald said the city would need to enter into a legal adverse possession process in order to make the possible sales, and the committee voted unanimously to proceed.
Success in the court procedure would most likely give a clear title to the City of Monroe that has acted as the property's owner, using and maintaining it for what appears to be more than 140 years.
Public Works Director Colin Simpson estimated the city is now spending about $1,000 a year to maintain the properties, mostly for mowing the grass.
The area has been the location of a Farmer's Market and a municipal ice skating rink. But the warming house is now gone, and the rink hasn't been flooded for skating in years. The local farmer's market moved to become the Market on the Square; though, farmer market leaders said the site is still used occasionally, especially during Cheese Days when downtown Monroe is taken over by other vendors.
All seems well in order for a future sale of the land, unless an heir to the property can produce documentation to challenge the city's ownership.
Monroe Middle School acquired the northern half of Market Square from the city in the mid-1980s. A 1986 legal judgment apparently freed the north half of Market Square from any restrictions.
History
Market Square, a one-block area once centered on the intersection of Market and Main streets, now known as 15th Street and 16th Avenue - was set aside as "a place to hold a market overt," probably before Monroe even became a village in early 1858.
The subdivision was platted by Jarvis Rattan in 1839. He was the purchaser of the land by a land patent.
Jeremy Lincicum of Green County Title & Abstract, Inc. searched out Rattan from the time of the land patent until approximately 1890, but was unable to locate any dedication or conveyance to the city.
In June 1869, the Monroe village board adopted an ordinance ordaining the area to be "fenced in four separate parks, so as to protect all articles placed there for sale, from animals running at large within the corporation, and gates constructed for the free and convenient ingress and egress of all persons and teams bringing articles to the market" in the village.
Minutes of that board meeting, held June 29, indicate the Market Square in Rattan's addition was donated by Rattan "for a place to hold a Market overt" for people wishing to sell "wood, hay, straw, corn, wheat, oats, fruits, meats, vegetables, and other articles and products."
The ordinance also called for trees to be planted for shade and to beautify the square.
An undated and anonymously written history of Monroe's Parks and Recreation Department from 1869-1976 notes the birth of the department as June 29, 1869.
On Dec. 6, 1870, the village board adopted a resolution to remove the fences, having determined the fences violated the original proprietor's design of the area for public use as a public square and were, therefore, unlawful.
E.C. Hamilton wrote "The Story of Monroe" in 1976, which was printed by The Print Shop of Monroe Public Schools. In that accounting, Rattan is said to have come from Illinois in 1836.
According to "The Story of Monroe":
"He (Rattan) entered an 80-acre claim adjoining (Joseph) Payne's property and built his cabin near the Town Spring (today's Spring Square parking lot). Rattan's cabin was located just west of the spring and encroached on the right-of-way of what later became Jackson Street (16th Avenue)."
Jacob Lybrand from Pennsylvania came here in 1837 and immediately purchased a portion of the Rattan claim, as well as other property that eventually would become Monroe.
"Thus, these four men - Payne, Rattan, (Jacob) Andrick and Lybrand - owned the nucleus of the land upon which Monroe developed as a village. They were joined as principals in the genesis of Monroe for a time by a fifth pioneer figure, William S. Russell, agent for New England land speculators residing principally in Rhode Island.
"During the 1839 controversy over choice of Green County's seat, it was the inspired joint donation of 120 acres to Green County by Payne, Lybrand and Russell that resolved the voting imbroglio. Payne's 40 acres was the eastern third of the donation, Lybrand's, the center portion (or Public Square), and Russell's, the west third. ... Jarvis Rattan, after selling the last of his village holdings, including the town's first sawmill started by C.D. Hulburt and John Bingham in 1849, took up farming in the Monticello vicinity. He died in retirement in California."
The city's Public Property Committee determined in March to sell off the southern half of the old Market Square. The two pieces of undeveloped real estate lie on the south side of 15th Street and on either side of 16th Avenue, south of the Monroe Middle School. Each quarter block is about 17,000 square feet.
But by June 3, city staff members informed the committee that the city does not have clear title to these properties - or, at least, it has no documentation indicating possession of a clear title.
City Attorney Rex Ewald said the city would need to enter into a legal adverse possession process in order to make the possible sales, and the committee voted unanimously to proceed.
Success in the court procedure would most likely give a clear title to the City of Monroe that has acted as the property's owner, using and maintaining it for what appears to be more than 140 years.
Public Works Director Colin Simpson estimated the city is now spending about $1,000 a year to maintain the properties, mostly for mowing the grass.
The area has been the location of a Farmer's Market and a municipal ice skating rink. But the warming house is now gone, and the rink hasn't been flooded for skating in years. The local farmer's market moved to become the Market on the Square; though, farmer market leaders said the site is still used occasionally, especially during Cheese Days when downtown Monroe is taken over by other vendors.
All seems well in order for a future sale of the land, unless an heir to the property can produce documentation to challenge the city's ownership.
Monroe Middle School acquired the northern half of Market Square from the city in the mid-1980s. A 1986 legal judgment apparently freed the north half of Market Square from any restrictions.
History
Market Square, a one-block area once centered on the intersection of Market and Main streets, now known as 15th Street and 16th Avenue - was set aside as "a place to hold a market overt," probably before Monroe even became a village in early 1858.
The subdivision was platted by Jarvis Rattan in 1839. He was the purchaser of the land by a land patent.
Jeremy Lincicum of Green County Title & Abstract, Inc. searched out Rattan from the time of the land patent until approximately 1890, but was unable to locate any dedication or conveyance to the city.
In June 1869, the Monroe village board adopted an ordinance ordaining the area to be "fenced in four separate parks, so as to protect all articles placed there for sale, from animals running at large within the corporation, and gates constructed for the free and convenient ingress and egress of all persons and teams bringing articles to the market" in the village.
Minutes of that board meeting, held June 29, indicate the Market Square in Rattan's addition was donated by Rattan "for a place to hold a Market overt" for people wishing to sell "wood, hay, straw, corn, wheat, oats, fruits, meats, vegetables, and other articles and products."
The ordinance also called for trees to be planted for shade and to beautify the square.
An undated and anonymously written history of Monroe's Parks and Recreation Department from 1869-1976 notes the birth of the department as June 29, 1869.
On Dec. 6, 1870, the village board adopted a resolution to remove the fences, having determined the fences violated the original proprietor's design of the area for public use as a public square and were, therefore, unlawful.
E.C. Hamilton wrote "The Story of Monroe" in 1976, which was printed by The Print Shop of Monroe Public Schools. In that accounting, Rattan is said to have come from Illinois in 1836.
According to "The Story of Monroe":
"He (Rattan) entered an 80-acre claim adjoining (Joseph) Payne's property and built his cabin near the Town Spring (today's Spring Square parking lot). Rattan's cabin was located just west of the spring and encroached on the right-of-way of what later became Jackson Street (16th Avenue)."
Jacob Lybrand from Pennsylvania came here in 1837 and immediately purchased a portion of the Rattan claim, as well as other property that eventually would become Monroe.
"Thus, these four men - Payne, Rattan, (Jacob) Andrick and Lybrand - owned the nucleus of the land upon which Monroe developed as a village. They were joined as principals in the genesis of Monroe for a time by a fifth pioneer figure, William S. Russell, agent for New England land speculators residing principally in Rhode Island.
"During the 1839 controversy over choice of Green County's seat, it was the inspired joint donation of 120 acres to Green County by Payne, Lybrand and Russell that resolved the voting imbroglio. Payne's 40 acres was the eastern third of the donation, Lybrand's, the center portion (or Public Square), and Russell's, the west third. ... Jarvis Rattan, after selling the last of his village holdings, including the town's first sawmill started by C.D. Hulburt and John Bingham in 1849, took up farming in the Monticello vicinity. He died in retirement in California."