Los
Angeles County
Biographies
WILLIAM NEWTON MONROE
William Newton Monroe, nonagenarian
and distinguished citizen, still resides at “The Oaks” in Monrovia, where he
erected a comfortable and attractive home in 1885. He was the founder of the thriving and
prosperous town of Monrovia and no one has been more active or effective in
building up the San Gabriel Valley. We
quote from the “History of Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley,” published in
1930: “His entire business career has
been characterized by distinctively constructive work, and he has done well
whatever he has undertaken. Now, in the
golden sunset years of his life, he is enjoying the rewards of his former years
of well directed effort.”
Mr. Monroe was born in Lexington,
Scott County, Indiana, on the 4th of June, 1841, a son of Sanders A.
and Catherine (Monroe) Monroe. Both
parents were natives of Virginia and of old southern stock of Scotch-Irish
extraction. William N. Monroe received
his early education in the public schools and was a student in Ashland
University, in Iowa, at the outbreak of the Civil War. After two years he was promoted to first
lieutenant and transferred to the Seventh Iowa regiment, and at the end of his
service was brevetted major. He took part
in many of the most important campaigns and hardest fought battles of that
great struggle and toward its end he was sent west to quell Indian troubles.
Soon after leaving the army, Mr.
Monroe turned his attention to contracting and railroad building, being
associated with his father-in-law, Milton Hall.
He handled for Mr. Hall a contract for the construction of a part of the
Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha west.
Later he came to California, where he was superintendent of construction
for the Southern Pacific Railroad for twelve years. After building a considerable portion of the
Southern Pacific from Oakland eastward, he was given a contract to construct
the Southern Pacific Railroad from Spofford Junction
to Eagle Pass in Texas. From there he
went to old Mexico one hundred fifty miles to Monclover,
which was the capital of Texas when it was a Mexican state. He spent four years there altogether,
constructing two hundred fifty kilometers, or about one hundred fifty miles, of
the Mexican International from Eagle Pass, Texas, for Collis P. Huntington, who
was his close personal friend. Mr.
Monroe also built about two hundred forty miles of the Southern Pacific west
from San Antonio, Texas, doing the heavy work along the Rio Grande River, all
the grading and track laying as well as bridge
building. In 1884 he and his wife and family
came to Los Angeles, California. He
shipped a car-load of mules to the city, selling most of them at two hundred
dollars apiece but keeping sixteen of the best for his own purposes.
As a railroad contractor Mr. Monroe
had accumulated a snug fortune of one hundred fifty thousand dollars and on
coming to this section of the country he and his wife started to look for a
favorable location for a permanent home.
They had been real partners during all the vicissitudes and travels and
moving incident to his contracting career.
He had provided himself with a specially equipped and arranged car,
which was for him both an office and a home, being shifted from point to point
as his work progressed. It contained a
piano and other home comforts and luxuries. After looking carefully over the country, he and
his wife decided that the present site of Monrovia offered the finest natural
advantages and he selected two hundred seventy acres of the Lucky Baldwin
ranch, the boundaries of this land being what are now known as Hillcrest
Boulevard on the north, Orange Avenue on the South, Myrtle Avenue on the east
and Mayflower Avenue on the west. Their
first camp was made under oak trees at the corner of Hillcrest and Magnolia. With the mules which he had retained, and
hiring a large force of men, Mr. Monroe went to work clearing the land of the
dense underbrush which covered it, but leaving all the live oak trees, and the
home place has ever since been called “The Oaks,” the comfortable and
attractive old home, built in 1885, being surrounded by magnificent specimens
of that species of tree.
Two years after buying the land, Mr.
Monroe became associated with J. D. Bicknell and E. F. Spence, each of whom
contributed land, Mr. Monroe one hundred twenty acres, as the townsite for a
future city. Before the town was thought of Mr. and Mrs. Monroe had called
their estate Monroevia, and later, when the same name
was suggested for the town, the “e” was dropped, it becoming Monrovia. Of the new townsite company Mr. Monroe was president,
Mr. Bicknell, secretary and attorney, and Mr. Spence, treasurer. In March, 1886, they started active work on
the laying out and improvement of the town, the streets being named after
fruits and flowers. Also a large sum of
money was spent in developing water in Saw Pit canyon, by means of clearing out
streams, making tunnels and piping the water to the land, about eight thousand
dollars being spent in water development at that time. The first reservoir in the city was built by
private subscription, most of the expense being borne by Mr. Monroe.
Among other enterprises for the new
town to which Mr. Monroe gave freely of his time and capital was the rapid
transit railway, the building of which he handled as a contractor. This finally passed into the hands of the
Southern Pacific Railroad. Mr. Monroe
built the Granite Bank, constructing it of cut granite rock from the Saw Pit
canyon, at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars. The building is now owned by Monrovia and
utilized as a city hall. He also erected
two brick buildings north of it and many other structures in the new town. Mr. and Mrs. Monroe gave three lots to the
Baptist denomination on which to build their first church, and they also gave
liberally to the cost of the building, their membership being with that
society. Mr. Monroe also gave three lots to the Methodist Episcopal Church and
two lots to the Congregationalists, in each instance also aiding in building
the churches. He gave four lots for the
first schoolhouse on Orange Avenue. He
served as the first mayor of Monrovia, and in an early day, was a councilman of
Los Angeles and active in the Chamber of Commerce.
In 1907 Mr. Monroe’s residence at
Monrovia was interrupted when he went to Alaska and took part in the exciting
adventures and happenings incident to the opening up of the Klondike and other
gold fields. In 1909 he went to Nome and
there engaged in the construction of Alaska’s first railroad, between Nome and
Anvil Creek, a distance of seven miles.
After superintending the construction of this road, he operated the line
until it was sold to the Nome Arctic Railway Company. The following year it was extended to Iron
Creek and the property was then sold to the Seward Peninsular
Railroad. Mr. Monroe remained with that
road seven years as superintendent and manager.
During all of this time his wife was with him, and in 1914 they returned
to their home at Monrovia. While in
Alaska Mr. Monroe hauled as much as one hundred fifty-nine thousand dollars
worth of gold-dust at one time to Nome, the dust being in bags piled on open
flat cars and was the week-end cleanup of the miners along the Anvil
Creek. In 1914 he came back to
California and operated a ranch near Escondido for a time and then settled
again in Monrovia, where he engaged in the real estate business.
In 1863 Mr. Monroe was united in
marriage to Miss Mary J. Hall, who was born in La Grange, Missouri, in 1846,
and is a daughter of Milton S. and Vianna (Tolle) Hall, born January 1, 1845, in Philadelphia,
Missouri. To this union were born five
children: Milton S., born in Omaha,
Nebraska, was killed in a railroad accident in Pomona, California, in 1900,
leaving a widow and two children, Marcus Clifford, now deceased, and Milton
C. George, also born in Omaha, is clerk
of the courts at Los Angeles and resides in Monrovia. He married Miss Annetta Evans, of Monrovia,
who is a member and secretary of the Monrovia school board, and they have a
son, Merton K. Myrtle M. is the wife of
Bruce Bailey, a consulting engineer with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railroad, with his headquarters in Los Angeles and his home in Monrovia. Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia was named in her
honor. Jesse Lee, who was born at
Lawrence, Kansas, died in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of seven years. Mabel H., who was born at San Antonio, Texas,
married Bruce T. Dyer, who died September 20, 1932, and they have a son, Hector
Monroe Dyer. Mrs. W. M. Monroe died
February 28, 1932, after a long and useful life. She had been a true helpmate to her husband
and inspiration to her family.
Milton Monroe, grandson of Mr. and
Mrs. William Newton Monroe, and a graduate of the University of California at
Los Angeles, is an artist in San Francisco.
Merton K. Monroe, another grandson, is a graduate of Stanford University
and engaged in the real estate business as a sub-divider. Hector M. Dyer, the third grandson of Mr. and
Mrs. W. N. Monroe, is also a graduate of Stanford University and a resident of
Inglewood, California. He participated
in the 1932 Olympic Games and was a member of the team of four that broke the
world’s Marathon record. He is managing
the mining operations begun by his father in northern California on the Yuba
River.
Though advanced in years William
Newton Monroe still maintains a deep personal interest in the welfare and
prosperity of his community, of which he is justly proud, and as its founder he
is well deserving of the high place which he holds in the respect and esteem of
the people among whom he has lived for so many years, and who appreciate his
uniform kindness, his generosity and his sterling personal qualities.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 333-338, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES