Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Munroe, Maj Edwin S ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 9:35 pm Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record MAJ. EDWIN S. MUNROE. The largest real-estate firm in Joliet is that of Munroe Brothers, composed of ex-Senator George H. and Maj. Edwin S. Munroe, who since 1896 have conducted a mortgage, loans, insurance, real-estate and general trust company's business, with offices in the Munroe hotel block. Since 1898 they have laid out the Munroe & Kelly subdivision, west of Henderson avenue, and the Munroe & Melchior and the Munroe & Norton additions, while prior to this the senior member of the firm platted many subdivisions while doing business under the firm name of G. Munroe & Son, including the Ridgewood additions to Joliet. It is doubtful if any individual or organization has accomplished more than they in the development of property interests and the advancing of real-estate values; hence their work possesses permanent merit. In Florence Township, this county, the subject of this sketch was born September 29, 1857, a son of George, and a brother of George H. Munroe, to whose biographies the reader is referred for the family history. His education was obtained in public schools primarily and was completed in Northwestern University, which he attended from 1874 to 1876, having applied to this purpose his earnings while assisting his father in the grocery business in Joliet. While attending the university he was very closely connected with the work of building the gymnasium and presenting it to the college; and as secretary and treasurer he was one of the leading members of the board of directors having the work in charge. Upon leaving the university Mr. Munroe became salesman and bookkeeper for his father's grocery, and later traveled for the house. In January, 1881, he became traveling salesman for the wholesale grocery house of John Roper & Co. Four years later he severed his connection with them in order to accept a position as commercial traveler with Reid, Murdoch & Co., the largest wholesale grocery house in Chicago, and he continued with them for eleven years, until 1896. Meantime he had been extensively interested in Joliet real estate. Purchasing the corner of Chicago and Clinton streets, where the Joliet National Bank stands, he built the Ed S. Munroe block in 1882, and from that time to this his real-estate interests have constantly enlarged and broadened. He occupies the homestead on East Cass street, built in 1887 by his father. There, with his wife and three children, George M., Edwine M. and Stanley M., he has a pleasant home in which his leisure hours are passed. He married Marie, daughter of Gallus Muller, who came to Joliet just before the Chicago fire and was chief clerk for the Illinois penitentiary for over twenty years. In 1876 Mr. Munroe entered the Illinois National Guard, becoming a private in Company B, Tenth Battalion. At the formation of the Twelfth Battalion, two years later, he was made quartermaster, with the rank of lieutenant, and continued in that capacity for eight years, the battalion meantime becoming the Fourth Regiment. In 1886 Governor Fifer commissioned him major of the regiment, and he continued as such until the reorganization of the guard and the merging of the Fourth into the Third Regiment. He was called into active service at the time of the Braidwood strike of 1877, the LaSalle trouble of 1878, the Joliet and Lemont strikes of 1885, and the Braidwood labor troubles of 1889. He is a member of the Veteran Roll of the Illinois National Guard. Politically a Republican and interested in the success of his party, he is nevertheless in no sense of the word a politician, his time being fully occupied with the cares of his constantly increasing business. Socially he is a member of the Union Club of Joliet. In religion he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is secretary of the board of trustees, and is a delegate representing Rock River Conference in the General Conference to be held in Chicago in 1900, which is the supreme organization of the entire Methodist Episcopal Church throughout the world. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/munroe955gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 4.8 Kb