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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

​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.
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​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.