<![CDATA[Monrovia Historical Museum - Museum Musings (Our Blog)]]>

<![CDATA[Monrovia Historical Museum - Museum Musings (Our Blog)]]>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 20:13:13 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[1887: SALOONS AND MONROVIA'S INCORPORATION]]>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:32:14 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/1887-saloons-and-monrovias-incorporation

By Oliver Beckwith

At the Monrovia Historical Museum, I enjoy telling our guests the story of our city’s beginnings. I often share that the city’s 1887 incorporation story has something to do with saloons and the founders’ desire to get rid of them. The community began in May of 1886, and by the fall of 1887 Monrovia was growing quickly.

Saloons were allowed in Los Angeles County, thus they were allowed in Monrovia. But some prominent citizens who opposed these “gin mills” found that they could ban saloons if Monrovia incorporated as a city. This is what happened in December of 1887 when the City of Monrovia was born. One outcome of that decision is that Monrovia is the fourth oldest city in Los Angeles County. Only Los Angeles (1850), Pasadena (June 1886), and Santa Monica (November 1886) are older.

At this point there is often lighthearted talk about saloons, and how Monrovians who wanted a drink would have to ride their horse to Arcadia or Duarte to get one. Today we have many places to consume alcoholic beverages in Monrovia, so why was it such a big deal back in 1887? Recently I’ve found something in William Newton Monroe’s autobiography that might give a hint at what was going on with the decision to ban alcohol sales. Other forces were at play at that time and these should be considered as well.

Before settling here William Monroe was busy building railroads for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1883 Collis Huntington asked him to build a line in Southern Texas and into Mexico. In his autobiography, Monroe wrote about meeting the infamous saloon keeper “Judge” Roy Bean in Langtry Texas.

While employing 1500 men on the railroad, a number of his workers visited local saloons. Judge Roy Bean would serve his workers liquor and then arrest them for being drunk. Then he would ask railroad builders like Monroe to pay fines for their release. One night, Bean arrested eight workers along with some dance hall girls, and demanded payment from Monroe. According to Monroe,

“He put the men in jail, the girls in his office tent and tried them the next morning, fined them ten dollars each and the girls five. The judge sent for me to come and pay their fines. I said, ‘Judge, who got them drunk? I don’t drink and discharge every one that comes on my work drunk. Let the saloon keeper pay the fines.’ I rushed the work to get away from there…”

There is a difference between 19th century saloons and the places serving alcoholic beverages today. In California today, serving alcohol in food establishments or bars is strictly regulated by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. For example it is a crime for a bartender to serve alcohol to anyone who is obviously intoxicated. In the 1880’s there were no such laws. Serving more alcohol to drunk patrons was legal and profitable for the saloon keeper.

Stories of drunken men going home and endangering their wives and children were well known here. At the time there was a temperance movement led by the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). This was a national organization with more than 150,000 members, some of whom were settling in the Monrovia area.

The goal of the WCTU was to ban alcohol sales and return America to its family-centered roots. Men were the primary wage earners for their families, so having the family problems associated with the man of the house being drunk was tragic. These women could not vote but their influence was felt in homes and churches.

California had a Sunday business closure law, known as a “Blue Law,” in place which restricted saloons from operating on that day. But it was repealed in 1883, just 3 years before Monrovia was founded. By 1887 saloons began to appear on Myrtle Avenue and a local vigilance committee, led by William Monroe, would try to get them to leave. Usually they were successful.

Monrovia was a new settlement with lots of promise, if only the right type of settler could be found. Twenty miles away in Los Angeles saloons were abundant. Some of these establishments were reputable but many were not, and problems with public drunkenness, gambling, and dance hall girls were a regular feature of life in those neighborhoods. Although saloons were a lawful business, the founders did not want to attract the “wrong people” to the town.

By the Fall of 1887 there was trouble on Myrtle Avenue. A tough business owner named Burton opened his saloon there, and he kept firearms behind the bar to discourage the vigilance committee. The Planet newspaper reported an increase in crime and drunkenness. This encouraged city leaders to take the necessary steps to incorporate as a city.

December 8, 1887 was election day and 112 men voted (women did not have the right yet) on the question of incorporation. 109 were in favor, two abstained, and one voted no. Monrovia was officially incorporated as a city a week later. Other than organizational ordinances, the first order of business was to ban saloons and the sale of alcohol. Monrovia became a dry city, so Mr. Burton had to close shop and leave town. Monrovians who wanted to visit a saloon would have to visit Duarte or Arcadia.

The move to ban alcohol and its perceived social ills continued into the twentieth century. In 1919 the 18th Amendment was ratified, establishing a nationwide ban on alcohol sales. But instead of solving social ills, others were created. Organized crime controlled illegal alcohol sales, and an underground economy with bootleggers and speakeasies grew nationwide. The amendment was repealed in 1933.

Today many businesses in Monrovia serve alcoholic beverages and most patrons moderate their consumption. It’s interesting to see how attitudes have changed since the city began. If you would like to read more about Monrovia’s founding check out the sources below. Or you can visit us at the museum and ask me for a tour.

Sources:
~Richard Singer, 1887: A History of Early Monrovia (Monrovia, CA, 2020)
~Sandy Burud, book and translation, William Newton Monroe’s Life: In His Own Words (Monrovia Historical Society, Monrovia, CA, 2025)

]]><![CDATA[the bear and Monrovia’s Canyon Park: Historical Connections]]>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/the-bear-and-monrovias-canyon-park-historical-connections1239137CANYON PARK IN THE 20TH CENTURY AND BEYOND
by Oliver Beckwith, MHM Board Member

Part Two of Two
(to re-read Part One, click here)

From the beginning of Monrovia’s existence as a city there was awareness of Monrovia Canyon and its falls. Local residents would hike or take horses up there and enjoy the visit. With the introduction of automobiles in the early 20th century there was a desire for residents to visit the place in their vehicles.

In 1911 work began on building a road, and in 1913 Canyon Park was opened. People have been driving up to the park with its charming falls for the past 113 years. The experiences of the people who visited the place in the past century would be immeasurable. Monrovians have had the luxury of a natural retreat just minutes from their homes and businesses in the city. But the place has not been without its characters and challenges.

There was a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Canyon Park in the 1930’s, part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. When World War II began, that location was used as a Conscientious Objector’s camp for a time. In both cases people were put to work upgrading trails, creating firebreaks, and doing general forestry work.

Ben Overturff (1877-1954) moved to Monrovia from Iowa in 1901. In 1903 he rode the first Pacific Electric car into Monrovia, and in 1951 he rode the last Pacific Electric car to Monrovia. While on a hunting trip, Overturff discovered a wonderful area three miles up from Canyon Park, and in 1907 the U.S. Forest Service issued him a lifetime lease for the area, which he called Deer Park. He lived on Walnut Avenue and could be seen taking his mules up to Canyon Park over several decades. Overturff hosted many guests in his cabin for a few decades. But in 1938 a terrible flood hit the area and it washed out the trail to Deer Park. When World War II started a few years later, access was limited to Canyon Park because the city wanted to protect its water supply from sabotage. Aged 70 years in 1947, he stopped coming to his beloved Deer Park cabin.

By that time, access to Deer Park had been limited, owing to its proximity to Sawpit Dam. The Los Angeles Flood Control District emphasized the importance of protecting the water security of Monrovia and other cities downstream. The Forest Service destroyed the cabin in 1958 to discourage squatting and vandalism, but the remains of the cabin built by Overturff more than a century ago are still there.

I hiked up to Deer Park in November of 2025. It’s a seven mile round trip, all uphill to get there and all downhill coming back. Overturff used natural granite rocks to build much of his cabin, and a lot of rusting metal can be found in the form of old bedsprings, tin roofing, and an unused bale of barbed wire. By chance I ran into a bear on the way back from the cabin. I called out to the bear to alert it of my presence and it promptly scampered off.

Fire and Flood have been the big natural challenges for the region. Ben Overturff managed to weather floods in 1914 and 1938, events of nature that closed the park and damaged the city. He also witnessed the Great Fire of 1924. Started by a smoker in San Gabriel Canyon on August 31st of that year, the fire was not put out until 19 days later. Deer Park was used by firefighters as a base of operations. According to Monrovia historian John L. Wiley, every available man in the city was drafted to organize this fighting force. Officer Tom McGaff and Sheldon A. Stubbs went from house to house in the early morning hours and hastened the quickly forming crews to the places of action.

In more recent times Monrovians will remember the wind storms in late 2011, which knocked down trees and power lines all over the city. It also closed Canyon Park for a time. In 2020 the Bobcat fire burned into Canyon Park and created destruction which closed the park. The fires left the mountains around the park barren, which led to flooding and park closures until June of 2025. Mention should be made of the valiant efforts of Monrovia’s firefighters to save the city from destruction in both 2020 and 2025. Their determined efforts saved Monrovia.

Weather events of the past century, along with careless actions of individuals, and perhaps corporations, have reduced our ability to enjoy the beauty of nature in these nearby places. When these places are available to us, we should take some time to visit places like Canyon Park. It’s a refreshing change from our daily pursuits.

In making a comparison between The Bear, a fictional account of a future time, and the history of Monrovia’s Canyon Park, it’s important to consider the interaction between humans and nature. Whether the vehicle for interaction is a mountaintop or a canyon, wild places provide their visitors with a new perspective on life. We are all part of nature and the world does not revolve around us. If we embrace our place in the natural world with its conflicts and beauty, we will all be in a much better place. I encourage you to read the book and think about the nature that is around us here in Monrovia.

]]><![CDATA[The Bear and Monrovia’s Canyon Park: Historical Connections]]>Thu, 01 Jan 2026 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/the-bear-and-monrovias-canyon-park-historical-connections

By Oliver Beckwith, MHM Board Member

Part One of Two

The Bear is a book by author Andrew Krivak, and it is the featured book in Monrovia's "One City
One Story" initiative for 2026. It’s sponsored by Monrovia Reads, a local group which promotes
literacy and provides resources to accomplish this goal. The Bear is about a journey by a father
and daughter in a post apocalyptic world, and themes of human interaction with the natural
world abound.

Krivak had been telling his children bedtime stories about a bear, and when he moved to New Hampshire he became inspired to write a story that would include Mt. Monadnock, a popular hiking destination in the region.

The meaning of the name Monadnock in the Abenaki tribal language is “Mountain that Stands Alone,” and the place has inspired people for many generations. The mountain appears in Henry David Thoreau’s writing, and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem about the place titled, “Monadnoc from Afar.” Both were transcendentalists; they believed in self sufficiency and making deep connections with nature both physically and spiritually.

Monadnock, the mountain that stands alone, was popular with tourists in the 19th century and it is very popular today, with 125,000 visitors annually. People visit the mountain to reconnect with nature, and reading The Bear inspires us to reignite that connection.

One of the beautiful things about Monrovia is its proximity to the San Gabriel Mountains. Every time I walk out of my home I see Monrovia Peak, and it's so close I can practically reach out and touch it. Its elevation is 5412 feet above sea level, just 301 feet below the summit of Mount Wilson. Living in a foothill community we may see coyotes, racoons, skunks, crows, ravens, parrots, and vultures. And of course Monrovia is well known for its bears. These are all reminders that we live in a world of nature.

The first people of Monrovia Canyon lived there for thousands of years. If you visit the Monrovia Historical Museum you will find a structure created a number of years ago by a group of Kizh descendants. Kizh is pronounced “Keech,” and it means “People of the Willow Houses.” Nearby canyons contained the villages of Asuksagna and Aleupkingna, and the resources of these canyons were used by the Kizh until they were enslaved and forcibly relocated to the San Gabriel Mission. The area changed hands from Spain to Mexico in 1821, and from Mexico to the United States in 1848.

The beautiful mountains above Monrovia attracted settlers even before the place became a city. In 1874 the Hibbard and Polly Rankins family arrived in the area from Wisconsin. Soon they built a homestead on what is now part of Monrovia’s Canyon Park, near the site of the Nature Center. This family had a number of children who attended school in nearby Duarte. The Rankins planted a garden there and grew fruit trees. They made a living by cutting down trees and selling the lumber in Los Angeles, back then a two day trip. They also raised bees and sold wild sumac honey. They lived with the bears, deer, coyotes, and all the other local wildlife.

The Rankins had a son named Albert, aged 19, and he was an apprentice to a blacksmith in San Gabriel. One day he came home and became very ill. Albert had come down with typhoid fever, and in March of 1877 he died at the Rankins home. Soon two sisters, Estella, aged 13, and Polly, aged 16, came down with the disease and both perished the following month. All three were buried on the property, and soon the grief stricken parents moved back to Wisconsin. After some time another sibling moved the bodies to Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, but the gravestones can be seen today just behind the amphitheater at Emerson Flats.

In August of 1877 a well known figure hiked into nearby Eaton Canyon. John Muir was enthralled by the ruggedness of the San Gabriel Mountains, and hiked up to the top of Mount Wilson. Later he wrote about his experiences there. Of Eaton Canyon Falls, he wrote: "It is a charming little thing, with a voice sweet as a songbird's, leaping some thirty-five or forty feet into a round, mirror pool. The cliff back of it and on both sides is completely covered with thick, furry mosses, and the white fall shines against the green like a silver instrument in a velvet case... It is the Yosemite of San Gabriel."

Leonard H. Emerson settled in Monrovia Canyon several years after the Rankins left, and he had business partners who wanted to create a resort in the canyon. However he ran into big legal trouble when he tried to cut off the flow of water to Monrovia in 1888. Afterward he moved his family into Monrovia, but the area where the Nature Center lies is still known as Emerson Flats.

In the following decade, thousands of people came out West to Southern California. The arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad allowed many more settlers to come to the area. There was a desire to visit the beautiful and rugged San Gabriel Mountains nearby. This was the beginning of “The Great Hiking Era” in Southern California, which started in the 1880’s and lasted until the 1930’s. From the beginning of Monrovia's existence as a city, there was awareness of Monrovia Canyon and its falls. Local residents would hike or take horses up there and enjoy the visit. With the introduction of automobiles in the early 20th century, there was a desire for residents to visit the place in their vehicles.

Next Month: Canyon Park in the 20th Century and Beyond.

]]><![CDATA[Welcome To Our Four New Archival Interns!]]>Sun, 09 Nov 2025 23:24:58 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/welcome-to-our-four-new-archival-interns

We are thrilled to introduce four new volunteer interns who have joined our archival team, each bringing a unique background and passion for preservation and research. All four are working with Ili Lobaco, our Collections Coordinator/Archivist, as they pursue their passion in museum archival work.

Madi Arnault and Audrey Strople are currently pursuing their Master’s degrees in Library and Information Science from Simmons University in Boston. As part of their online academic program, both are completing 60 hours of archival work with us. Madi has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Hampshire College and a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from Claremont Graduate University. Madi plans to pursue a career in art librarianship. Audrey has a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and Art History from the University of La Verne and plans to pursue a career in cultural heritage conservation and preservation. She was a former Getty Marrow Intern at the Gilb Museum in Arcadia. Both Madi and Audrey’s enthusiasm for archival theory and hands-on experience is already making a meaningful impact.

Tanya Valladares recently completed her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Cal State Long Beach and is currently pursuing a certificate in Archives and Digital Collections from Pasadena City College, along with two certificate programs from Santa Monica College in Cultural Resource Management and the other in Graphic Information Systems. Her wish is to pursue a career in archival work. Her interdisciplinary background gives her a unique lens on cultural preservation and historical context.

Joovy Chen is a junior at a local high school where she is actively involved in their Theater Department with costume design and construction. Her role in researching and designing costumes has sparked a love for historical fashion and material culture, making her a natural fit for our museum archival work. Joovy is working with the many textiles in our collection by researching their history, updating the information in our PastPerfect database, and storing them with appropriate archive methods and materials. Joovy brings fresh energy and curiosity to the team, and she has already contributed greatly to the organization of our textile collection.

All four have jumped into processing collections with a sharp eye for detail and a deep appreciation for the stories behind each artifact.

We are excited to support these interns as they grow their skills and explore the many facets of archival work. Their diverse experience helps us to continue preserving history with care and creativity. Welcome aboard, Madi, Audrey, Tanya, and Joovy!

]]><![CDATA[Route 66 and Monrovia: A Shared History]]>Sun, 09 Nov 2025 23:08:39 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/route-66-and-monrovia-a-shared-historyBy Oliver Beckwith, MHM Board Member

In the first four decades of Monrovia’s existence, modes of transportation in the city had been changing. In the early years the train was the main mode of transportation. Passengers arrived at the Santa Fe Station. Next they were taken into town on a mule drawn trolley. In 1903 the Pacific Electric train line was added, making trips to Pasadena and Los Angeles relatively easy. The twentieth century also saw the advent of the automobile, and before too many years had passed, people were driving to and from Monrovia in their Studebakers, Oldsmobiles, or Fords.

Long distance travel was difficult owing to poor road conditions. Colonel (later General and President) Dwight Eisenhower tried to move a military convoy across the country in 1919. The trip took 62 days, and this led to calls for an improved highway system in the United States. By the mid-1920’s a highway between Chicago and Los Angeles was planned by the Bureau of Public Roads, and on April 30, 1926, they designated the Highway as Route 66. The 2448 mile highway was put together from a number of state and local highways, and featured many stops in small towns along the way. Local businesses on the road prospered as people passed through those towns. Monrovia too benefited from the highway.

In anticipation of the improved traffic such a highway would bring, local investors put up $138,000 and built the Aztec Hotel at Foothill and Magnolia in 1925. Architect Robert Stacy-Judd designed the building in the rare Mayan Revival Style, but the place was named the Aztec Hotel because many Americans knew nothing of Mayan culture. While never a successful hotel, the building stands today as an important monument for Route 66 travelers. Other buildings from Route 66 in Monrovia include the Flying A Gas station on Shamrock and the Oak Park Motel on Huntington, which features a googie-style sign.

During the life of the highway there were two routes going through Monrovia. Early on the road went through Huntington, up Shamrock to Foothill, and then West to Arcadia, Pasadena, and Los Angeles. In the early 1930’s a decision was made to move the route to Huntington, and in short order businesses, following street traffic, moved to Huntington as well. Monrovia Airport was located on that route between Mountain and Shamrock. In the late 1930s the McDonald brothers operated a stand there offering hot dogs, fries, and orange juice. It was called the Airdrome, and when they moved to San Bernardino in 1940 they renamed their restaurant McDonald’s.

Over the years Route 66 played an important part in American history. The Depression years saw the coming of more than 200,000 migrants to California on the “Mother Road,” as described by John Steinbeck in his classic book, The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II the road was used for transportation of men and materials to the many military bases on the West Coast.

After the war many former soldiers used the road to move their families to California, now a center for industrial expansion, and a population explosion followed. In 1946 Bobby Troup wrote a song encouraging people to “Come and get your kicks on Route 66,” and people watched a TV series with the same name in the early 1960s. For people of a certain age Route 66 is a fixture of memory.

The success of Route 66 in the postwar years may have led to its replacement. In 1956 President Dwight Eisenhower, seeing a need for safer highways that would carry more traffic, signed into law the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. This created the interstate highway system we all use and enjoy today, but it bypassed Route 66. By 1985 the Transportation Department removed Route 66 as a highway designation, leaving the upkeep of the roads to state and local governments. Many of the small towns on Route 66 were bypassed by the interstate and a good number are now ghost towns. Monrovia avoided that fate owing to its location in the Los Angeles basin.

April 30, 2026 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road. Events are being planned across the old highway and plans are being made to celebrate the anniversary here in Monrovia. More information will be forthcoming. The museum is working on a much larger space dedicated to Route 66 and its history.

Part of the display will feature Route 66 stories from local residents. I have a Route 66 story. In 1928 my grandfather drove his family, including my mother who was nine at the time, from New York to Chicago. He then took Route 66 from Chicago through Monrovia on his way to settling in Los Angeles. Every day I drive the same streets my grandfather drove 97 years ago.

What is your Route 66 story? We are hoping our local stories of Route 66 will be shared in the museum for generations to come, sharing our personal history of the Mother Road’s past with the future.

]]><![CDATA[Monrovia Plunge Integration 1925]]>Sun, 07 Sep 2025 21:27:16 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/monrovia-plunge-integration-1925By Félix Gutiérrez, Guest Author

On this summer’s 100th anniversary of Monrovia Municipal Plunge, now home of the Monrovia Historical Museum, it was posted online that plunge doors opened in 1925 “for swimmers of all ages”. All ages: Yes. All colors: No.

From 1925 until 1949, the Monrovia Municipal Plunge enforced segregated swimming days limiting when people of color could use the pool.

How Monrovians of Mexican descent and others fought for equal rights in the plunge and elsewhere is colorfully displayed on a four-sided Monrovia Public Art Neighborhood Treasure on the sidewalk in front of the history museum, once the pool’s entrance.

The artistic monument created by international artist José Antonio Aguirre honors Monrovia Latinos and my family’s Monrovia history, both worth noting during Hispanic Heritage Month mid-September to mid-October.

Featured are my grandfather Francisco J. Gutiérrez and father Félix J. Gutiérrez, role models and advocates for integration in decades of segregation. Tiles with artworks, news articles, photographs, quotes and ephemera show Monrovia’s lives and times from the 1900s to the 1950s.

My grandfather Francisco was an early 20th century Monrovia cement contractor whose works included sidewalks, driveways, curbs and irrigation canals across the San Gabriel Valley. His 1920s “F.J. Gutierrez Contractor” imprint is displayed on Monrovia sidewalks.

One day while driving he nudged son Félix to look out the window toward the Recreation Park space. “They’re going to build a swimming pool there,” he said. “I have the contract for the cement work.”

My six year-old future father Félix excitedly looked forward to splashing in the plunge his father would help build. But shortly before its opening, Francisco learned the city pool he worked on every day would be open only one day a week to Mexican Americans and other people of color.

By extending segregation to the new city plunge pool Monrovia broke U.S. government promises of equal rights to California Mexicans.

My grandfather Francisco was born in 1871 in the San Gabriel Valley, where our family has lived since it was part of México. The U.S. declared war to take Alta California’s land and people from México. In 1847 both governments signed a treaty peacefully ending the bloody warfare with a promise that “equal rights and privileges are vouchsafe to every citizen of California as are enjoyed by the citizens of the United States of America.”

But the treaty’s “equal rights” promise was not kept. The Gutiérrez family and other Californios soon faced new “Greaser Laws” and other discrimination. Treated as “strangers in their own land,” we challenged the unequal treatment and looked to prove our equal worth by working with Whites and on our own.

Grandfather Francisco did both, working for White Monrovia general contractors and then going into business as a cement contractor before 1920. He was Monrovia’s only Latino business owner, paid by the city for public works projects.

Like some Mexicans moving with White society, Francisco Anglicized his name to “Frank” on business cards. He role-modeled integration in Monrovia by hiring multiracial work crews, joining the Knights of Columbus and Chamber of Commerce and was the only Spanish-surnamed member of Native Sons of the Golden West.

My grandfather worked to build an integrated life in a segregated society, making ties with Whites while proudly honoring the Gutiérrez family Californio heritage and enjoying Méxican culture, food, and family. Personally, Francisco was accepted and professionally his work was respected within the segregation limits of the times.

Classified as White for potential World War I military service, Grandfather Francisco was legally White, but treated as less than White. Although he never lived in México, he was considered Mexican.

The home he built for his family was on Huntington Drive “south of the tracks”, Monrovia’s segregation line. His work was good enough for him to lay cement every day for a city plunge, but his sons would be able to swim only one day a week.

When Francisco told son Félix the sad plunge of segregation news he also showed him a way to counter discrimination. My grandfather told my dad to round up his friends at Recreation Park the evening before the plunge’s opening. Once they gathered, he took out his contractor’s key and unlocked the gate for the kids to jump into the plunge for a joyful splash and swim.

The children of color Francisco unlocked the gate for that night were the Monrovia Municipal Plunge’s first public users, not the White patrons who began 24 years of segregated city plunge swimming the next day,

]]><![CDATA[Monrovia Plunge Integration 1930s-40s]]>Sun, 07 Sep 2025 21:19:08 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/monrovia-plunge-integration-1930s-40sBy Félix Gutiérrez, Guest Author

Thirteen years after the Monrovia Municipal Plunge opened in 1925 with segregated swimming days, that segregation was challenged by a group led by my teenage father Félix Gutiérrez, President of the Monrovia Latin-American Youth Club and Pasadena Junior College student.

In the summer of 1938 club members presented a letter and speech urging the Monrovia City Council to end their pool segregation. This challenge and other Mexican Americans equal rights efforts are now displayed on a colorful monument on the sidewalk in front of the Monrovia Historical Museum, once the entrance to the Monrovia Municipal Plunge.

The Monrovia Neighborhood Treasure public art created by international artist José Antonio Aguirre honors the role modeling and advocacy of integration in a time of segregation by Francisco and Félix Gutiérrez, my grandfather and father.

“Monrovia Mexicans resent alleged discrimination which permits them to use the municipal plunge only on Mondays when set aside for members of the colored race and want to be allowed to swim there during the week with other members of the Caucasian race,” the Monrovia News-Post reported. “No action was taken, the request being referred to the administrative department of the council for consideration.”

The Monrovia Historical Museum today displays the reality of the newspaper’s “alleged discrimination” in a glass case showing the plunge’s daily log designating Monday as “Colored” day. Negroes and Mexicans both faced segregation. Both fought back.

“A colored friend spoke of segregation, how those of Mexican descent and Negroes were reserved a day to swim in the swimming pool,” Félix wrote in The Mexican Voice, a Monrovia-based inspirational educational youth magazine he founded in 1938. “The colored friend advocated that those of Mexican descent and Negroes get together and fight segregation.”

But Monrovia city officials took no action on pool segregation for over a year, my dad reported in 1939 in the YMCA-sponsored The Mexican Voice, circulated across the Southwest. He wrote that people should look at “What Americans are doing to Americans in America.”

City plunge segregation was only one of many places where people of Mexican descent faced less-than-equal treatment as they advocated for equal rights in Monrovia and elsewhere in the early 20th century. But the discrimination they faced at home did not dampen their eagerness to face their country’s wartime enemies and fight for freedom overseas.

Shortly after the U.S. entered World War II, Félix reported in The Mexican Voice that, despite being denied the same rights as those living “north of the tracks,” many Mexican-origin Monrovians volunteered for military service without being drafted. My dad wrote they were surprised to be classified White, something they had never experienced.

“In schools by attending ‘their own,’ they could not feel American. In the municipal plunge a day was reserved for ‘Mexicans.’ In the theater the right side was reserved for ‘them.’ Certain restaurants would not cater to ‘Mexicans’ ” he wrote in a 1942 issue of The Mexican Voice, describing his own Monrovia experiences. As Monrovia’s women and men of all colors joined war efforts the city added Thursday as a second Colored swimming day. But plunge segregation continued until a 1949 post-war challenge.

After a Second Baptist Church meeting that year, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) “demanded that segregation at the pool be eliminated” the Monrovia News-Post reported. Los Angeles NAACP leader Thomas L. Griffith Jr., told the Monrovia City Council colored children looking to swim were denied entry and told to return on a Monday or Thursday.

In a veiled legal threat, attorney Griffith said, “There have been many court decisions regarding swimming pools and we hope that this matter will not have to go beyond the City Council.” Two White men also called for plunge segregation to end. The council then voted for unrestricted pool use and ended 24 years of city plunge segregated swimming. The vote came 11 years to the day after the 1938 Monrovia City Council sidelined the Monrovia Latin-American Youth Club’s call to end plunge segregation.

]]><![CDATA[Who was Upton Sinclair?]]>Sun, 13 Jul 2025 21:21:47 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/who-was-upton-sinclairBy Mark Harvis, MHM Vice President

President Lyndon Johnson greets Upton Sinclair in 1967 at the signing of a meat bill.Photo is in the public domain.

I must admit I’m not an Upton Sinclair expert. Hardly. But I am familiar with "The Jungle,” which was published in 1905 and 1906. Sinclair intended his novel to expose the dire circumstances in which industrial laborers found themselves. Instead, the novel’s graphic description of unsafe and unsanitary conditions in the meat packing industry caused Congress to take action. It passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, both in 1906. People were outraged and disgusted by what they read, leading to lasting changes to the food industry.

Upton Sinclair House 2008 by Doncram – under Creative Commons Licensehttps://commons. wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4627690

So, what does that have to do with Monrovia? Well, take a drive to 464 N. Myrtle Avenue. There you will find a neo-Mediterranean home built in 1923 that Sinclair purchased in 1942. (Don’t disturb the residents; it is a private home.) The current owners have maintained it in remarkable, original and immaculate condition.

The National Register of Historic Places 1971 nomination form explains that Sinclair lived “austerely amid Spartan surroundings”:

“Sinclair made no structural changes to the house. The double garage which Sinclair converted into a study stands to the rear of the house, next to the shelf-lined concrete block vault that he built for his papers. Wrote Sinclair of this arrangements: ‘I lived and worked in that Monrovia office over a period of some fifteen years, and I managed to fill all the storerooms with boxes of papers .... I had over eight hundred foreign translations of my books, . . . over a quarter of a million letters, . . . [and] practically all the original manuscripts of my eighty books, and also of the pamphlets and circulars . . . stored in grocery cartons.’ Some years before Sinclair's death, this collection was sold to the University of Indiana.”

The nomination form tells us that Sinclair’s “goal was not great literature so much as the advancement of certain ideas propounded creatively and powerfully in his novels, the best-known of which is perhaps The Jungle. Ultimately, he became one of the most influential American novelists in the area of social justice.”

Sinclair enjoyed his life in Monrovia. Sinclair observed that in Monrovia he found a "perfect peace to write in,...a garden path to walk up and down on while I planned the next paragraph, and a good public library from which I could get what history books I needed."

The Monrovia Public Library has numerous books either by or about Upton Sinclair available for your checkout. You can also borrow Sinclair e-books via the Libby and Palace Apps.

]]><![CDATA[What do you get for $20-plus million dollars?]]>Sun, 13 Jul 2025 21:03:06 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/what-do-you-get-for-20-plus-million-dollars

Well, you get Canyon Park: The Sequel. But unlike some movie sequels that are pretty awful, the City of Monrovia got a sequel that is true to the original but oh-so-much better.

Canyon Park became “official” in 1911, yet the area had been utilized for decades prior. Hibbard and Polly Rankin settled in the Emerson Flat area around 1874. Around 1886, L.H. Emerson, for whom Emerson Flat is named, settled in the Sawpit Canyon area. For many years, Monrovians enjoyed hiking and camping in Canyon Park, even though getting there was difficult because there was no road. In1911, Taylor Renaker, member of a pioneer Monrovia family, started a group of volunteers building that
road. Thus began the “official” Canyon Park.

Mark Harvis, MHM Vice President

For more than 100 years, Monrovians have enjoyed the amenities at Canyon Park, a jewel in the City’s Crown. The hikes, the falls, the nature center, the Cabin, camping — Canyon Park is a wonder in our backyard. Until September 2020, when the Bobcat Fire tore through the hillsides. No structures were burned in the park but the damage was significant, including dead trees, burnt vegetation, and heavy ashfall. The City jumped right in, cleaned the place up and reopened it in August, 2021. In December, though, the rains came. Torrential rains caused catastrophic damage to park facilities, including the roads, parking lots, fencing, bridges, rails, and trails. The park was closed. More rains in 2022 and 2023 caused even more damage. The closure was now complete.

Which is when the City got to work.

The water system had to be completely redone. The septic system was removed and everything put on a renewed sewer. Retaining walls needed to be repaired. Roads and parking lots needed to be regraded and resurfaced. The City didn’t just put bandages on the injuries. Instead, the City figured out how to fix what was broken and, at the same time, make the park better and more resilient without really changing the look and ambience we all loved.

Becky Shevlin, City of Monrovia Mayor

The City didn’t just stop there. The entrance kiosk had been damaged. The new kiosk has heating and cooling, room for two rangers, windows, and a computer area. There is a new education center that includes a beautiful amphitheater. An overlook was installed near the Nature Center. Oh, and the falls — it’s still there. The trails have been repaired, although, sadly, many trees were lost. It’s not quite as shady along the trail as it used to be. But it’s still a wonderful hike suitable for all ages and skill levels.

Visitors can now enjoy new or improved features including expanded picnic areas and BBQs, a Meditation Platform, ADA-accessible paths and parking, and the beautifully renovated Nature Center—home again to our beloved “Samson the Bear.” Native plants are already thriving, and a new greenhouse will help reestablish Canyon Park’s ecosystem for generations to come.

Museum members have loved Canyon Park for decades. Now there is so much more to love. When we visited for the grand opening, we noticed that although the park is better, it really hasn’t changed. It’s Canyon Park. And that’s something.

Want more info? Want to visit? First, visit the City’s Canyon Park website and learn all about our brand-new yet not-brand-new park: click here

]]><![CDATA[Searching For The Black Meccas: The Jones Family]]>Sun, 27 Apr 2025 22:06:21 GMThttps://www.monroviahistoricalmuseum.org/museum-musings-our-blog/searching-for-the-black-meccas-the-jones-family

PRESS RELEASE

April 8, 2025

Monrovia ChangeMakers
Contact person: Sandy Burud, sandy.burud@gmail.com, (626) 675-8323

Long Unmarked Graves of Two Extraordinary African American Women to be Marked

Two notable African American Monrovia sisters, whose resting places lie unmarked at Monrovia's Live Oak Memorial Park, will finally be recognized and markers added to their graves.

A program highlighting the lives and legacies of Anna H. Jones and Dr. Sophia B. Jones, will be held on Saturday, May 3 beginning with a program and luncheon at 11 a.m. at Second Baptist Church, 925 S. Shamrock Ave., followed by the dedication of their grave markers at 3 p.m. at Live Oak Memorial Park.

The event and luncheon are free and open to the public. Please RSVP by April 25 to (626) 664-6537 or spicerbatice@gmail.com.

These sisters, born in the 1850s, were pioneers in education and medicine, overcoming racial and gender barriers. Yet their stories are barely known here.

Anna was a visionary educator, suffragist, and civil rights leader who made lasting contributions to higher learning in the US. She broke new ground as a teacher at Ohio's Wilberforce University, where she also served as Dean of Women. Later, she became the first African American teacher in Kansas City and then the first African American principal of Douglass School, a public school for African Americans. She founded the Kansas City Colored Women’s League, was a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, and in 1900 delivered a paper at the first Pan-African Congress in London. Eventually, she settled with her siblings at 1301 S. Shamrock Ave. in Monrovia, had a small orange ranch and continued her fight for social justice by founding the “Anna H. Jones Club,” still going strong, to help local graduates pursue a college education.

Sophia was equally determined but focused on the medical field. Denied admission because of her race to the medical school at the University of Toronto, where she earned an undergraduate degree, she pursued her dream in the U.S., in 1885 becoming the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School. She became the first Black female faculty member at Spelman College in Atlanta, establishing its nursing program. She went on to teach at Wilberforce University, serve at Frederick Douglass Hospital, and publish influential work on public health. She, too, spent her final years at the family home on South Shamrock.

Both operated in the highest circles of elite Black activists. Their close friend W.E.B. Du Bois, co-founder of the
NAACP, marked each of their passings in his national magazine, The Crisis.

Their stories underscore perseverance, scholarship, and activism. This gathering will celebrate their achievements and reveal little-known aspects of their roles in shaping higher education and medicine. All are invited to learn more about these extraordinary women and witness the dedication of newly placed grave markers honoring them at Live Oak Memorial Park.

Sponsors: Second Baptist Church, Monrovia ChangeMakers, Monrovia Historical Society, Monrovia Historical
Museum, Monrovia Historic Preservation Group, Monrovia Duarte Black Alumni Association, Anna H. Jones Club, Live Oak Cemetery, Randy Montgomery; Valley Monument.

READ MORE: See below to read a more in-depth article on the Jones Family (Desktop View Only).

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