Health & Fitness
Here There Be Treasure
The Monrovia Public Library's collection of maps may be small, but it has some neat surprises.
Buried deep within a corner of the library, in a nondescript cabinet, underneath the jigsaw puzzles, lies a map to buried treasure. Well, not just one map, several. Dozens.
It’s in an rare, old decrepit copy of Atlas of Treasure Maps from 1957. The atlas shows the rough locations of literally hundreds of sunken ships, lost or abandoned mines, or otherwise noteworthy supposed stashes of riches around the world. There’s even a few not to far from Monrovia. The San Gabriel Mountains were after all home to not just a few gold mines.
While the collection of maps at the Monrovia Public Library is small, it is really worth checking out. Aside from some road maps that are pretty dull, there are a few maps of old Monrovia. And when I say old, I’m talking 1887 Monrovia. Back when Foothill Blvd. was White Oak and Hillcrest Blvd. was Banana Ave. Personally I prefer the old name. A map from a few decades later, 1941, the street names start to look a little more familiar. It’s also on the 1941 map that we get some really interesting city data.
Data like how the library in 1941 had 25,000 volumes. City taxes were roughly $5.45, and the population was less than half of what it is now at about 15,000, there were 2 hotels and about 4,389 homes.
My favorite map, however, has to be a large, laminated map mounted on foam board. It’s a map from the 1998 Tree Inventory that was done on Library Park. While it’s a little off considering the library’s renovation as well as the modest change to the landscape, but you can rest assured that those big trees, the ones that you shouldn’t climb, but we all have, are there.
For such a small collection, the library really does have some gems. I for one, would love to see it grow. Considering how ubiquitous technologies like Google Earth, GPS, GIS, and not to mention how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is soon going to start phasing out the printing of topographic maps, these small collections are really going to become more and more of a rarity. Enjoy them while they last!