By the start of the summer of 2017, the Monrovia Legacy Project had identified 67 homes in Monrovia that had been built before the end of 1887 and were still standing. The Board of Directors of the Monrovia Historic Preservation Group (MOHPG) decided to carry this recognition a step further by designing a brass plaque that could be placed on those homes, identifying them as “First Houses.”
MOHPG spent three months during the summer and fall of 2018 attempting to contact the homeowners to get permission to have the plaques placed on their homes. In the end, permission was obtained from 44 homeowners. According to the city manager’s office, almost all the plaques have been mounted to the front of the homes.
The brass plaque measures 8-by-6 inches and is easily visible from the curb. Keep a lookout for these early homes, all built during the Victorian era, on your next walk around town. You can also see the interiors of some of these vintage gems in the 37th Historic Homes Tour, set to take place on Sunday, May 5, 2019.
