Monrovia

History

The San Gabriel Valley was first inhabited by the Tongva whose traditional lands extended throughout the area of modern-day greater Los Angeles. While Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo first discovered California for Spain in 1542, Spanish colonization did not begin until 1769 with the Portolá expedition. In 1771, the entire valley, including present-day Monrovia, came under the domain of the newly established Mission San Gabriel, initially located along the San Gabriel River near the southern edge of the valley. The mission utilized the lower portion of the valley for raising cattle and farming while the uplands, including Monrovia, remained untouched. Following Mexico's independence from Spain and the Mexican Congress's enactment of secularization laws in 1833, the government of Alta California began the process of secularizing missions and dispersing their property. On April 16, 1841, Hugo Reid, a naturalized Mexican citizen from Great Britain, was provisionally granted ownership of Rancho Santa Anita, which included most of present-day Monrovia to the west of Norumbega Drive, and received a fee simple title to the land in 1845. Rancho Santa Anita then changed hands several times before Lucky Baldwin acquired it on April 8, 1875. In 1884, William N. Monroe purchased a 120-acre plot from Baldwin in present-day Monrovia that encompassed both sides of White Oak Avenue (now Foothill Boulevard). Monroe acquired an additional 90 acres in 1885. In 1886, Monroe partnered with Edward F. Spence, John D. Bicknell, and James F. Crank to form a 120-acre town centered around Myrtle Avenue and present-day Colorado Boulevard; the first sale of townsite lots began on May 17, 1886. Within nineteen months, several banks, hotels, churches, and schools were built. In 1887, Monrovia reached a…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  50,649
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  45,210
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  42,132
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  39,892
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  37,607
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  36,275
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  35,383
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  33,437

Most recent

• M 2.53 — 2026-09-18
  11 km N of Fillmore, CA
• M 2.94 — 2026-09-17
  4 km SSE of Compton, CA
• M 2.56 — 2026-09-13
  27 km SSE of Malibu, CA
• M 2.65 — 2026-09-12
  4 km E of Lennox, CA
• M 2.62 — 2026-09-12
  5 km WNW of Willowbrook, CA
• M 2.62 — 2026-09-11
  6 km W of Edwards Air Force Base, CA