Old Whipping Post
Public whipping for minor crime was a custom brought from New England by Monroe's earliest American settler's. Not general in the midwest, the punishment was administered here chiefly to ne'er-do-wells whom the citizens wished to be rid of.
Peter P. Ferry, a former soldier of Napoleon's army, served as a local justice of the peace. He sentenced many an offender to be lashed in public until the custom was abolished around 1835.
The first frame courthouse was built across the street from here in 1817 when Monroe became the county seat. The whipping post was erected in front of it.
Marker is on East First Street west of Washington Street, on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
