sentences:  However, for geographical, genealogical, and historic purposes the older, named precincts are of greater utility.As part of the historically German-Catholic belt of southern Illinois, Monroe County was hostile to the “Yankee” Civil War and voted solidly Democratic until Theodore Roosevelt carried the county in 1904.Since that time, however, the county has become powerfully Republican, and the only Democrats to gain a majority since 1904 have been Catholic Al Smith in 1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, and Lyndon Johnson in 1964.