William Newton Monroe (1841–1935) was a school teacher, banker, hotel manager, mayor, council member, real estate developer, broker, railroad contractor and railroad superintendent and a founder of the city of

Monrovia, California Monrovia is a city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 37,931 at the 2020 census. Monrovia has been used for filming TV shows, movies and co ...

. In 1875

Lucky Baldwin Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin (April 3, 1828 – March 1, 1909) was "one of the greatest pioneers" of California business, an investor, and real estate speculator during the second half of the 19th century. He earned the nickname "Lucky" Baldwin d ...

's Los Angeles Investment Company began subdividing and selling parcels from many of his ranchos. In 1883, 240 acres (970,000 m²) of

Rancho Santa Anita Rancho Santa Anita was a land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given to naturalized Scottish immigrant Hugo Reid and his Kizh people wife. Reid built an adobe residence there in 1839, and the land grant was formally recognized ...

were sold to William Monroe for $30,000. Additional parcels of Rancho Santa Anita were sold to Edward F. Spence, John D. Bicknell, James F. Crank, and Jeremiah F. Falvey. The men then joined their properties to form the Monrovia Tract with the first subdivision being the Town of Monrovia. In 1935 Monroe died at the age of 94. He is buried in Live Oak Memorial Park on Duarte Road in Monrovia.

Vocation

Monroe served in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

with the 1st Iowa Cavalry Company I and the

7th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry The 7th Iowa Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the Indian Wars. In Chapter IX of MacKinlay Kantor's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Andersonville" (1955), the father of one of the main characters is commis ...

Company D. He earned the ranks of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

& 1st Lieutenant. He resigned from Cavalry on August 23, 1864. His next job was as the superintendent of construction for the Southern Pacific Railroad starting in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

and building west. After the line to Los Angeles was completed he moved to Los Angeles with his family. In 1880 he became a member of the Los Angeles City Council. In 1882 he departed Los Angeles to work on construction for another rail line in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, returning in 1884. After doing well with the two construction projects, he purchased 210 acres of Rancho Santa Anita from E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin. He lived in a tent until a home was constructed. He called it “The Oaks”. The home is still standing at 250 North Primrose Avenue. Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia, the city's main street, is named for Monroe's oldest daughter, Myrtle. In 1907 he went to the Klondike gold fields and built the first Alaskan railroad. This line ran from Nome to Anvil Creek.

Public service

Monroe was elected to a one-year term on the

Los Angeles Common Council The Los Angeles Common Council was the predecessor of the Los Angeles, California, City Council. It was formed in 1850 under state law, when the city had only 1,610 residents, and it existed until 1889, when the city had about 50,400 residents and ...

on December 5, 1879, serving until December 11, 1880. After the city changed its election system from

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

electoral districts An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

, he was reelected from the 1st Ward on December 6, 1880; he resigned on June 18, 1881.''Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938,'' compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe, William Norton Los Angeles City Council members American city founders Educators from California 1841 births 1935 deaths