Monrovia  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Monrovia station platform | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | 1641 South Primrose Avenue Monrovia, California | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 34°07′59″N118°00′12″W / 34.13312°N 118.00330°W /34.13312; -118.00330 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Los Angeles Metro | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2side platforms | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Connections | Foothill Transit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Structure type | At-grade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parking | 350 spaces[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | Racks andlockers[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1886 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1926, 2016[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FY 2025 | 737 (avg. wkdy boardings)[4] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Monrovia station is an at-gradelight rail station on theA Line of theLos Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located at the intersection of Duarte Road and Myrtle Avenue inMonrovia, California, after which the station is named. This station opened on March 5, 2016, as part of Phase 2A of theGold Line Foothill Extension Project.[3][5]
TheLos Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad built the first train tracks and station in Monrovia in 1887. The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was founded in 1883, byJames F. Crank with the goal of bringing a rail line toSan Gabriel Valley from downtownLos Angeles. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was sold on May 20, 1887 into theCalifornia Central Railway. In 1889 this was consolidated intoSouthern California Railway Company. On January 17, 1906 Southern California Railway was sold to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and designated thePasadena Subdivision.
Installed in 1887, amule-drawnrailway with a single passenger car, called the Myrtle Avenue Railroad[6] at that time ran from the Monrovia station up Myrtle Ave to downtown Monrovia. On the way back down to the rail station, the mule was loaded onto aflatcar and downhill gravity took the cars back to the station. By the early 1920s the partially mule-powered streetcar system was removed. In 1906 the firstPacific Electricrail car arrived in Monrovia. The PE Pasadena and Monrovia line ended in 1951. Santa Fe Middle School near the station is named after the Santa Fe Railway.[7]
The current railway station reuses the formerAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot which was built in 1926. It is designed in aSpanish colonial revival style.[8] The 1926 station replaced a wooden depot built on the site in 1886 by the originalLos Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad. Passenger trains ceased to stop at Monrovia by April 1956, though the station's passenger ticketing office remained open through the late 1960s.[9] Santa Fe and laterAmtrak ran theSouthwest Chief andDesert Wind over this line in Monrovia, but rerouted passenger trains to the Fullerton Line in 1986. The Santa Fe line served the San Gabriel Valley until 1994, when the1994 Northridge earthquake weakened the bridge in Arcadia. With the completion of the Gold Line in Monrovia, the 1926-era Monrovia train station is slated to be restored.[when?][10][11][12][13]
The Santa Fe Depot was used in a number of Hollywood movies through the years. It is used two times in the 1966 movieThe Trouble with Angels, both at the start and the ending in which the girls leave St. Francis Academy.[14]
As part of the light rail extension, the Gold Line Authority and Metro built a new Maintenance and Operations (M&O) Facility in Monrovia, east of Monrovia station. The 27-acre (11 ha) facility services, cleans and stores light rail vehicles for Metro's fleet, with a total storage capacity of 104 vehicles. The facility, known as Metro Division 24 Yard, is located just north of the right of way between California Avenue and Shamrock Avenue. It cost $53 million to build.[15]
A Line service hours are from approximately 4:30 a.m. and 11:45 p.m. daily. Trains operate every 8 minutes during peak hours, Monday to Friday. Trains run every 10 minutes, during midday on weekdays and weekends, from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Night and early morning service is approximately every 20 minutes every day.[16]
As of September 19, 2025[update], the following connections are available:[16]
The city of Monrovia created a transit-oriented district around the station. The district, known as theStation Square Transit Village Mixed Use District, has mixed retail, residential and office uses, with pedestrian amenities and connections. Construction of phase one of the new district started in 2017. Between the station and theI-210 Foothill Freeway is the Station Square Transit Center, with a park and parking lot, also new apartment buildings.[17] Plans are to restore/renovate the historic 1926 Monrovia Santa Fe train station depot at the location, though the actual use of the station is not yet determined as of 2013[update].[18][19][20]
Los Angeles Metro
[self-published source?]An historic picture of a Santa Fe train at the old Monrovia train station. Posted by Bill Mohr on Facebook.
