History
The village was incorporated as a town in 1891 at which time it had a population of some 2500 people, mostly engaged in the lumber and banana industry. With the decline of these industries and a blight of banana trees in this area in the second half of the 20th century the population declined, and in 1981 was legally reclassified as a village again, although retaining the historic name of "Town".
On October 9, 2001, Hurricane Iris made landfall at Monkey River Town as a 145 mph Category Four storm. The storm demolished most of the homes in the village, and destroyed the banana crop. The area's formerly large population of black howler monkeys was similarly greatly reduced, but has come back strongly and several troups are to be seen along the river, a popular eco tourist attraction. Researchers from the University of Calgary led by Dr. Mary Pavelka study the monkey population year round.
Erosion of the southern foreshore, where the village is located, has been an important issue over recent years, this has been halted by a recent government project which installed a botan sea defence. Further work wil be carried out as finance permits. The northern foreshore is relatively unaffected.
Coordinates: 16°21′48″N 88°29′7″W / 16.36333°N 88.48528°W / 16.36333; -88.48528
Read more about this topic: Monkey River Town
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