Why is Hwy Esplanade a Highway?

When I saw this sign recently I again wondered why a street that is only three blocks long is called "Highway?"

So I asked Steve Baker, Monrovia's city historian, who said that the street was named by JE MacIntire (I'm unsure of spelling), the developer of the area north of what is now Huntington to Chestnut, and bordered on the west by what is now Monterey and on the east by Mayflower.

For some reason MacIntire called the development the "Highway Block," I guess maybe because it was near Huntington (called Falling Leaf at the time). But anyway, the "Hwy" part of Hwy Esplanade refers to the name of that part of town and is not a description of the street.

- Brad Haugaard