Monticello, MO

Monticello is a rural village in, and county seat of, Lewis County, Missouri, United States, along the North Fabius River. The 2020 census counted 104 residents. The town is named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson's estate in Virginia. Monticello is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. In Monticello, history and present-day settings sit close enough to belong to the same local picture. The map tells the story in Monticello, where earlier chapters remain visible in current streets, buildings, and gathering places. Following the establishment of Lewis County on January 2, 1833, two commissioners, Stephen Cleaver and Joshua Fensel, were tasked with finding a suitable location for the county seat. They passed on selecting already established villages like Tully and Canton along the Mississippi River and instead selected a location near the geographic center of the new county.