Arthington is a small town in

Montserrado County Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia containing its national capital, Monrovia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has 17 sub p ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

, located along the

Saint Paul River The Saint Paul River is a river of western Africa. Its headwaters are in southeastern Guinea. Its upper portion in Guinea is known as the Diani River or Niandi River, and forms part of the boundary between Guinea and Liberia. It is known local ...

northeast of the capital city of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

. It is mainly known as the hometown of former President Charles Taylor, the country's 22nd president.

History

The town is named after Robert Arthington, an attorney and philanthropist from

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

who contributed money for former slaves from the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

to emigrate to Liberia and to increase access to Liberia's interior. Arthington was settled in 1869 by 79

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

immigrants from

Windsor, North Carolina Windsor is a town in and the county seat of Bertie County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,630 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 2,283 in 2000 United States census, 2000. Windsor is located in North Carol ...

.Burrowes, Carl Patrick
''Power And Press Freedom In Liberia, 1830-1970''
/ref> In 1870, John Roulhac and his party arrived. In 1871, parties led by Jefferson Bracewell and Elias Hill arrived, and in 1872 another group led by Aaron Miller came. These and other immigrants from the U.S. states of North Carolina,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

also provided what later came to be known as the

Americo-Liberian Americo-Liberian people (also known as Congo people or Congau people),Cooper, Helene, ''The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood'' (United States: Simon and Schuster, 2008), p. 6 are a Liberian ethnic group of African Am ...

population of the town. The town was once known for producing sugarcane, coffee, and ginger, and was the location of one of Liberia's most prosperous trading companies in the late 19th century. The town's architecture, patterned after plantation homes in the Carolinas, was featured in ''A Land and Life Remembered: Americo-Liberian Folk Architecture'' (UGA Press, 1988).

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Liberia Montserrado County Populated places established in 1869 1869 establishments in Liberia Populated places established by Americo-Liberians