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 political districts. As of the 2022 Census, it had a population of 1,920,914, making it the most populous county in Liberia. The area of the county measures , the smallest in the country. Bensonville serves as the capital.

Created in 1847 at the foundation of the Liberian republic, the county is the oldest in Liberia. Previously, it had been the site of the colony of Kentucky in Liberia. Montserrado’s County Superintendent is Nyenekon Beauty Snoh-Barcon. The county is bordered by Bomi County to the west, Bong County to the north, and Margibi County to the east. The southern part of Montserrado lies on the Atlantic Coast.

Geography

Located on the coast in the northwestern third of Liberia, Montserrado County is bordered by three counties. Residents lived mainly in owner occupied dwellings, which made up 61% of households. Seventeen percent rented their homes with an average cost of 341 LD, and 22% lived rent free in their home. Montserrado’s county superintendent is Beauty Barcon. Other executive office include commissioners for districts and townships, line ministries, and an assistant superintendent that focuses on development. Other national government employees assigned to the county include tax collectors, revenue agents, and customs officials. Markets include daily markets, primarily for food, and weekly markets. The port has one wharf and four piers, though one pier cannot be used due to a sunken ship.

In 1948, the missionaries from the Pentecostal faith opened a school in Mein Clan in Todee District.

Enrollment in primary schools in the county totaled 314,409 students, which was 35% of the total number for the nation as a whole. Students attended a total of 1,096 schools in the county. Media include STAR radio, The Daily Talk news boards, and The Analyst newspaper.

The majority of the county’s population is Christian. Montserrado County has limited access to electricity, with the majority of power being generated by privately owned generators. The county is not served by any public communications, though cellular communications are available through four private companies. Stockton and Dr. Eli Ayers negotiated to acquire the land in and around the bay from the native chiefs for a settlement by free people of color before sailing to Sierra Leone to pick up these colonists. The Kentucky society bought a site along the Saint Paul River and named it Kentucky in Africa. In 1832, the Dey-Golah War erupted between the colonists and the native tribes. In 1885, the first municipal water supply system was completed in Monrovia. The Mount Coffee Hydropower Project's first phase was completed in 1966. Rubber and palm oil plantations were started in the 1960s and 1970s, while a factory for producing clothing was built in 1979 in Bentol City. In 1984, Marshall and Gibi territories were combined and became neighboring Margibi County to the east.

Virginia saw the construction of the Unity Conference Center and Hotel Africa in 1979. During the civil strife of the 1980s into the early 2000s much of the county’s infrastructure was looted and left unmaintained.

References

  • List of villages
  • Place name codes