Harrisonville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in the historic Harrisonville Precinct of

Monroe County, Illinois Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 34,962. Its county seat and largest city is Waterloo. Monroe County is included in the St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Stati ...

History

Harrisonville was the first county seat of Monroe County, and was originally called Carthage, or even earlier, in 1786, as Brashear's Fort. The name was changed by an act of the territorial assembly, in 1816, to honor

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

, who actually owned several tracts of land in the area, mostly in Moredock precinct. However, sources suggest the name was already in common usage by 1810 or even earlier. The original site, some distance west of its current location has been swallowed up by the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

, and was obliterated by 1860. It was an important shipping point on the Mississippi River, lying on the bank directly opposite

Herculaneum, Missouri Herculaneum is a city in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States, and is a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 4,273 at the 2020 United States Census. The City of Herculaneum was the first county seat of Jefferson County from January 1, ...

and drawing on the agricultural production of the

American Bottom The American Bottom is the flood plain of the Mississippi River in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois, extending from Alton, Illinois, south to the Kaskaskia River. It is also sometimes called "American Bottoms". The area is about , mo ...

.Combined History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, Illinois, J. L. McDonough & Co., Philadelphia, 1883 (Google Ebook)

References

Unincorporated communities in Monroe County, Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois Metro East Populated places established in 1810 Former county seats in Illinois {{MonroeCountyIL-geo-stub