Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Munroe, George H 
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Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

GEORGE H MUNROE. The specific and distinctive office of biography is not to 
give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments but 
rather to leave the perpetual record establishing his character by the 
consensus of opinion on the part of his fellowmen. Throughout Will county 
George H. Munroe is spoken of in terms of admiration and respect. His life has 
been so varied in its activity, so honorable in its purposes, so far-reaching 
and beneficial in its effects that it has become an integral part of the 
history of the city and has also left an impress upon the annals of the state. 
In no sense a man in public life, he has nevertheless exerted an immeasurable 
influence on the city of his residence: in business life as a financier and 
promoter of extensive industrial and commercial enterprises; in social circles 
by reason of a charming personality and unfeigned cordiality; in politics by 
reason of his public spirit and devotion to the general good as well as his 
comprehensive understanding of the questions affecting state and national 
welfare; and in those departments of activity which ameliorate hard conditions 
of life for the unfortunate by his benevolence and his liberality. The life 
record of Mr. Munroe covers the period from September 24, 1844, Watertown, New 
York, being the place of his nativity. He comes of Scotch and German lineage. 
His father, George Munroe, was born in Scotland, and his mother was born in 
the Genesee valley, New York, of German parentage. They brought the family to 
Illinois in 1849 and settled upon a farm in Will county, so that the son began 
his education in the public schools of the town of Florence. He continued his 
studies in private schools in Wilmington and in Joliet, Illinois, and early 
gave promise of that strength of character, unfaltering energy and ready 
adaptability and mastery in every situation which have characterized him in 
later life. He had not yet attained his majority when for two years he filled 
the office of deputy sheriff. In the year 1865, when he arrived at man's 
estate, he entered into partnership with his father, George Munroe, in 
establishing the grocery house of G. Munroe & Son. Success attended the new 
enterprise and the business grew to extensive proportions. For some years it 
was conducted as a wholesale business and became one of the leading commercial 
concerns of the city, so continuing until the death of the father in 1890 
caused dissolution of the partnership. The keen business insight and sagacity, 
combined with the indefatigable perseverance and energy of the young man, led 
to his selection for important business trusts and in 1868, when the state 
penitentiary changed from the contract system to state accounts he was 
appointed receiver of the Illinois Manufacturing Company, which had the lease 
and all of the business there at the time. He settled the affairs of the 
company, made the sale to the state and divided about two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars net among the stockholders. He also acted as receiver of the 
Joliet Enterprise Company, his management of which and of other large trusts 
added to his already high reputation as a financier. In the line of individual 
enterprise he has extended his efforts to various fields and is now a 
stockholder and the vice-president of the Western Stone Company and one of the 
largest stockholders and a director of the Joliet National Bank. Furthermore 
through his extensive and important real estate operations he has contributed 
in substantial measure to the material development and improvement of Joliet, 
being a member, with his brother Edwin S., of the firm of Munroe Brothers, 
conducting a real estate, mortgage, banking and general trust company's 
business. They have platted perhaps a score of additions and subdivisions to 
the city and in this work have had in mind not only the needs which would be 
brought about by the city's growth but also its improvement along the lines of 
beauty and adornment. The first large building on Chicago street was erected 
by the firm of George Munroe & Son in 1884 and is today the present Munroe 
hotel. This street, now a commercial center adorned with fine business blocks, 
largely owes its improvement to Mr. Munroe. It is but natural that a man of 
his breadth of vision and extent of activity should feel the keenest interest 
in those political questions which have direct bearing upon the interests of 
county, state and nation, and it logically follows that he has informed 
himself concerning those things which may be accomplished for public benefit 
through legislation. To those at all conversant with the history of Joliet in 
its business and public life it is unnecessary to say that George H. Munroe 
might win high political honors if he was ambitious in that direction, but he 
is content to perform his public service as a private citizen and to lend his 
influence and aid where they shall be most effective for the good of the 
community at large rather than to seek political honors and emoluments for 
himself. The only public office that he has ever held since in his youth he 
served as deputy sheriff was that of state senator, and yet he is an ardent 
republican, pronounced in his support of party principles. In 1894, accepting 
the nomination of his party, he was elected to the state senate as the 
successor of a democrat by a majority of more than twenty-five hundred, the 
democratic city of Joliet giving him a majority of eleven hundred. In the 
upper house of the general assembly he was connected with much important 
constructive legislation, showing that he had made a close study of the needs 
and possibilities of the state and of its interests which came under public 
supervision. In the thirty-ninth general assembly he was chairman of the 
committee on waterways and drainage, and a member of the judiciary, 
appropriations, canals and rivers, farm drainage, mines and mining, fees and 
salaries, printing, state library, and arts and sciences committees. On the 
convening of the fortieth general assembly he was again made chairman of the 
committee on waterways and drainage, in which capacity he secured valuable 
concessions and improvements for the local interests along the great waterway 
and through the Illinois valley. In this assembly he was the second member on 
the republican steering committee, and a member of the committee appointed to 
visit state educational institutions. He was also a member of the committees 
on railroads, finance, revenue, insurance, penal and reformatory institutions, 
canals and rivers, agriculture and horticulture, labor and manufacture, county 
and township organization, state library, and arts and sciences. Among the 
important measures which were secured through his efforts may be mentioned the 
following: A bill for amending rights of eminent domain, compelling 
corporations to pay expenses in condemnation cases, where they failed to take 
the property; the parole law; an amendment to the general banking laws of the 
state, throwing greater safeguards around the bank for the benefit of its 
depositors; the amending ,of the school laws of Joliet, increasing the number 
of school inspectors; the establishment of the Woman's Relief Corps home at 
Wilmington, this county, now a fine and thriving institution; and the 
establishment of a female prison on separate grounds from those of the 
Illinois state penitentiary. When the Humphrey bills were brought before the 
senate he was largely instrumental in creating that strong public sentiment 
against the bills which made their ultimate success impossible. It was largely 
due to his watchfulness that the sanitary drainage district did not secure a 
single change in their interest from the original bill; two tax bills only 
were passed permitting the trustees to tax their district for more funds and 
in both of these bills suitable amendments, in behalf of the valley people 
were added, one for the necessary amount of water and the other requiring 
swinging bridges, thus making it a navigable channel. At the expiration of his 
term as senator he was not a candidate for re-election. There were many who 
desired him to become a candidate for governor, but with characteristic 
unselfishness, he threw his influence toward securing another Will county 
citizen, Hon. E. C. Akin, as nominee for attorney-general. Most happily 
situated in his home life, Mr. Munroe was married in Joliet to Miss Eva Weeks, 
the only daughter of Judge Charles H. Weeks. Educated in a private school at 
Naperville, Illinois, her innate culture and refinement have given her 
leadership in social circles and made her own home, where she presides with 
gracious hospitality, the center of social life in Joliet. Mr. and Mrs. Munroe 
have a daughter and son, Esther and George Fuller, the former the wife of 
Jesse J. Shuman, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Munroe have been 
associated in much of their work along benevolent lines and in the various 
activities of St. John's Universalist church, of whose board of trustees Mr. 
Munroe served as president for many years. He was a prominent factor in the 
erection of its house of worship on the corner of North Chicago and Clinton 
streets, and brought to bear not only his financial assistance but also gave 
liberally of his time and business ability toward the successful execution of 
the enterprise. He holds membership with Matteson lodge, A. F. & A. M., and 
with the Union League club of Chicago and the Union League and Commercial 
clubs of Joliet, of all of which he is a valued representative. He holds 
friendship inviolable and, as true worth may always win his regard, he has a 
very extensive circle of friends and his life demonstrates the truth of Ralph 
Waldo Emerson's statement that "the way to win a friend is to be one." He 
assisted in organizing the Joliet Business Men's association, of which he has 
served as president, and no plant or movement for the benefit of the city 
along lines of progress and improvement seeks his aid in vain. The public work 
that he has done has largely been of a nature that has brought no pecuniary 
reward and yet has made extensive demand upon his time, his thought and his 
energies. Opportunities that others have passed by heedlessly he has noted and 
improved to the betterment of the city and the state in many ways. He is 
extremely modest and unostentatious in manner but all who know him speak of 
him in terms of praise. In his life are the elements of greatness because of 
the use he has made of his talents and his opportunities, because his thoughts 
are not self-centered but are given to the mastery of life problems and the 
fulfillment of his duty as a man in his relations to his fellowmen and as a 
citizens in his relation to his city, state and country. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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