Purdy Valley, Monroe County One-Place Study

Settlers started purchasing land in the unnamed valley in the late 1840s. It became commonly named in reference to the Purdy family who owned several tracts of land in the valley starting in 1859. It was largely settled after the passage of the Homestead Act of 1862 and was a small farming community with few community buildings.

At the start of WWII, the land was taken by eminent domain by the US Government to expand an adjoining Army base in 1942 and all families were evicted. To this date, Purdy Valley descendants still have strong interests in the people who lived there and the land they farmed. The aim of this study is to delineate Purdy Valley by border description and share the names and stories of the people who lived there at any time from when the Purdy family settled there in 1859 until the 1942 eviction.