Monrovia is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Frederick County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 2,702.Geographic Identifiers: 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171), Monrovia CDP, Maryland
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Etymology

Though a post office was established in Monrovia on January 15, 1833, it is not known that the town was named Monrovia in the 1830s. In the 1820s, the town was known as "Hall Towne," likely after Nicholas Hall, a founder of

New Market New Market may refer to: Bangladesh *New Market, Dhaka *New Market, Khulna, in Sonadanga Model Thana *New Market, Chittagong, near Government City College, Chittagong India * New Market, Bhopal *New Market, Kolkata Jamaica *New Market, Jam ...

. When the name Monrovia was applied to the town is unknown, however why it was named such was either after the U.S. President

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

, or perhaps for an event described by Reverend Herbert Austin Cooper in 1997:

The California Gold Rush of 1848 played a part in that. Two men from this area went to California in search of gold. Unsuccessful there, they then heard of new gold discoveries in Monrovia, Liberia (West Africa). So they went there and worked in the Monrovia mines. In Liberia, one of the two men died. After the man died, they put his body in a fish barrel, used to preserve salt-water fish, and filled the barrel with alcohol to preserve the body. The barrel was then shipped all the way around Cape Horn and, ultimately, to the Port of Baltimore. From there, the body in a barrel went by rail to what is now Monrovia, Maryland. It was received at the general store there, and the alcohol was dumped into Bush Creek, after which they had a funeral service with Elder Walker presiding.

It was suggested by Reverend Cooper that this shipment from Monrovia, Liberia, resulted in the town along Bush Creek being named "Monrovia."

Geography

The original unincorporated community of Monrovia is located along Maryland Route 75 (Green Valley Road) in southeastern Frederick County, south of New Market, Maryland. The Monrovia CDP extends south of the original Monrovia as far as

Maryland Route 80 Maryland Route 80 (MD 80) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Fingerboard Road, the highway runs from MD 85 in Buckeystown east to MD 27 near Damascus. MD 80 connects Buckeystown and Urbana in ...

(Fingerboard Road) and west to include nearly all of Ed McClain Road. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Monrovia CDP has a total area of , all land.

Education

Monrovia is part of the Frederick County public school system. Children from the area attend Green Valley or Kemptown Elementary School, Windsor Knolls Middle School, and Urbana High School or Linganore High School, due to redistricting in the fall of 2010.

Transport

The two major roads in the area are Maryland Route 75 and

. MD 80 leads west to Urbana and southeast to

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

(via MD 27), while MD 75 leads north to New Market and

I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, just outside Baltimore, Maryland. I-70 appr ...

US-40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

, and also south to Hyattstown and MD 355.

History

In 1831, Monrovia became a station on the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

and provided service to the mills and access for travelers to New Market, MD. A watering station for the trains was built later in 1840. Monrovia was impacted by the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

with the Monrovia General Store, used as a dry goods store from the mid-nineteenth century until the early twentieth century, being sacked by Confederate troops after the

Battle of Monocacy The Battle of Monocacy (also known as Monocacy Junction) was fought on July 9, 1864, about from Frederick, Maryland, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. Confederate States Army, Confederate forces under Lieut ...

. During the Civil War, Monrovia also made the front page of the September 16, 1862 issue of The New York Herald:

"We pushed on to Monrovia Station, on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, on the way to New Market, and while passing through an incident occurred well worth relating. I was riding in the rear when I was attracted by the most deafening shouts some distance ahead. I instantly went forward, and saw something that made me feel like shouting too. On a slight eminence on the side of the road stood two ladies and a little girl. In the child's hand was a small but very pretty American flag, which she was waving with all the ardor and enthusiasm of a youthful patriot. The men cheered until they were husky, and most of the officers, as they passed, took off their caps and saluted the national emblem. Upon conversing with the ladies I was informed that this was the only American flag that the rebels had left, and the reason for that was they could not find it. All the rest had been destroyed or carried away as trophies. The rebel cavalry destroyed here the post office and other government property. They left the place on Thursday afternoon, and fell back to New Market."

Monrovia was the largest community in the

election district in 1880.Garnder, Karen (August 12, 2002). "Monrovia was once a thriving village". ''The Frederick News-Post''. The Monrovia Central Trust Bank closed in 1929. Monrovia's largest employer, a cannery, closed in the 1930s. Another large employer, the Nicodemus Mill, also closed in the 1930s. The 75- 80 dragway opened in 1960. The track closed on October 30, 2005, with no plans to resume races. The closing prompted a significant public response, and renovations to the dragway began in 2007. The track reopened on April 3, 2009. The track closed for the final time on September 28, 2013, and was planned to be replaced by a housing development. However, the TV show ''

MotorWeek ''MotorWeek'' is an American television news magazine program that focuses on the automotive industry. The program is produced by Maryland Public Television for PBS, and airs on MAVTV. As of September 2023, ''MotorWeek'' is underwritten by T ...

'', which had been using the Dragway for its car tests since 1982, continued to use the remnants of the drag strip until partway through its 40th season in 2021, and even still credited the Dragway in its end credits. The show has since moved to the Mason-Dixon Dragway in Boonsboro. A developer owns land in Monrovia and had proposed building Monrovia Town Center, which was planned to consist of 930 single-family homes, 580 townhomes, and retail.Rodgers, Bethany (October 24, 2013). "Proposed Monrovia Town Center draws crowds to county hearing". ''The Frederick News-Post''. The developer later revised the plan, reserving half of the homes for residents who are at least 55 years old, reducing the number of homes from 1,510 to 1,250, and reducing the size of the development from .Karas, Rachel S. (April 9, 2014). "Traffic concerns raised at Monrovia Town Center hearing". ''The Frederick News-Post''. Residents have testified at meetings of the Frederick County Planning Commission to voice their disagreement with the proposed development, saying that the development would overburden the area's roads and schools and change the rural character of the area. In 2014, Frederick County's Board of County Commissioners voted to change the area's zoning. After a lawsuit against the Monrovia Town Center by Residents Against Landsdale Expansion (RALE) was won in 2017 in Frederick County Circuit Court, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld the lower court decision in 2019, and later Maryland's Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in 2020.75-80 Properties, L.L.C., et al. v. RALE, Inc., et al. August 24, 2020.
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Notes

External links

Monrovia on HometownLocator.com
{{authority control Census-designated places in Maryland Census-designated places in Frederick County, Maryland