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Palo Alto (from Spanish: palo, "stick" and alto, "high" - i.e., tall tree) is a city in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA, named for a tree called El Palo Alto. The city is located at the northern end of Silicon Valley, and is home to Stanford University and several successful high-technology companies, such as Hewlett-Packard. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,598. The northern half of Palo Alto, north of Oregon Expressway, is filled with elegant homes, some of which date back to the 1890s but most of which were built in the first four decades of the 20th century on tree-lined streets. South of Oregon Expressway, in the southern half of Palo Alto, the houses, including many Joseph Eichler-designed or Eichler-style houses, were primarily built in the first 20 years after World War II. While the city contains homes that now cost anywhere from $800,000 to well in excess of $10 million, much of Palo Alto's housing stock is rather lower middle-class in the style of mid-century California suburbia, and would not be so expensive were it not in such a desirable location. Palo Alto neighbors Stanford University and is in the heart of Silicon Valley. It also has highly rated public schools (See: PALY and GUNN), a high quality of life, and a vibrant downtown. The median home sale price (including condos) for all of Palo Alto was $948,000 in 2005[1]. Fire and Police History: 1960-present
History
Earliest recorded history stems from 1769, when Gaspar de Portolá noted an Ohlone settlement. This remains an area of known Indian mounds. A plaque is erected at Middlefield Road and Webster Street to commemorate this area. The city got its name from a tall tree by the banks of the San Franciscquito Creek bordering Menlo Park. You can still find this two-trunked tree along the foot bridge on Alma Street. A plaque recounts the story of a 63 man, 200 horse expedition from San Diego to the mission at Monterey between Nov 7-11, 1769. The group overshot and reached the bay instead. Regarding the bay as too wide to cross, the group decided to turn around near 'el palo alto.' Rafael Soto, tenth child and son of a De Anza Expedition settler, Ignacio Soto and wife María Bárbara Espinosa de Lugo to Alta California. He settled near the San Francisquito Creek between El Camino Real and Middlefield. Selling goods to travelers in the area about 1830. His property was granted at a size of about 2400 acres and reduced over time and claim. His wife met with problems maintaining ownership. Their daughter María Luisa married (1)John Coppinger in 1837 who owned vast acreage north of the Creek in present San Mateo County. Upon his death she inherited it and married later a visiting boat captain, John Greer, who stumbled into the area. He owned a home on the property that is now Town & Country Village on Embarcadero & El Camino Real. Greer Avenue and Court are named for him. To the south of Oregon Expwy was another grantee owner; the Robles brothers. Espanolos, Castilian, they said, and named Don Secundino and Teodoro. The older born in 1813 at Presidio Branciforte (Santa Cruz). They bought their 8500 acre property from José Peña, his 1841 grantee of Rancho Santa Rita. It was basically from Page Mill To San Antonio Rd. and east of El Camino, AKA 'Mayfield'to the Bay. Stories say their grand hacienda was built on the former meager adobe of José Peña near Ferne off San Antonio Road, midway between Middlefield and Alma St.. These 2 boys did well. Read their story and understand how they earned money to buy this land in 1847. They later were forced to sell 250 acres in 1853 the present Barron Park, Matadero Creek and Stanford Business Park to Elias O. Crosby ~ Creator of the term 'Mayfield'. Their hacienda hosted fiestas and bull fights. It was ruined in the 1906 earthquake and its lumber was used to build a large barn nearby which it is said lingered until the early 1950s. In 1880 Secundino Robles, father to twenty-nine children, still lived near present day Sears Dept. Store and was bounded on the south by Mariano Castro's grant across the street on San Antonio Road. From 1846-1848, the United States and Mexico were at war (see Mexican-American War), which concluded with U.S. conquest of California and New Mexico. Mexican land grants became targets of the Americans settlers and tycoons. Although if it must be considered that seventy years earlier the Mexicans had done much the same to the native California Indians and fewer are telling tales about their losses and historic figures. They were much more passive and had no real ability to confront De Anza and his men. Palo Alto was destined to be an early settlement but was reconsidered due to low creek levels. They marched on and set up a camp (Presidio) in present day San Francisco. Many of the Spanish names in the Palo Alto area represent the local heritage and descriptive terms and former residents. Pena Court, Miranda Avenue, which was essentially Foothill Expwy was the married name of Juana Briones and the name occurs in Courts and Avenues others in Palo Alto to Mountain View in the quadrant where she owned vast acreage between Stanford Univ., Grant Road in Mountain View and west of El Camino. Yerba Buena was to her credit. Rinconada was the major Mexican land grant name. The township of Mayfield was formed in 1855, in what is now South Palo Alto. Known for its rowdy saloons, it rejected Leland Stanford’s requests for reform which led him to drive the formation of Palo Alto in 1895. With Stanford’s support, saloon days faded and Palo Alto grew to the size of Mayfield. On July 2 1925, Palo Alto voters approved the annexation of Mayfield and the two communities were officially consolidated on July 6 1925. This saga explains why Palo Alto has two downtown areas: one along University Avenue and one along California Avenue. The latter was the downtown of Mayfield, the former of Palo Alto prior to merging with Mayfield. The Mayfield News wrote its own obituary four days later: "It is with a feeling of deep regret that we see on our streets today those who would sell, or give, our beautiful little city to an outside community. We have watched Mayfield grow from a small hamlet, when Palo Alto was nothing more than a hayfield, to her present size … and it is with a feeling of sorrow that we contemplate the fact that there are those who would sell or give the city away." A good site for more is taken from a book pub. in 1881. An interesting part of Palo Alto is a designated historic district called "Professorville"; this area bounded by Lincoln, Kingsley, Waverley and Ramona is where many of Stanford University's first faculty members settled. The district includes a large number of well preserved residences dating from the 1890s including 833 Kingsley, 345 Lincoln and 450 Kingsley. 1044 Bryant was the home of Russell Varian, co-inventor of the Klystron tube. The Lee DeForest laboratory site, situated at 218 Channing, is a California Historical Landmark recognizing DeForest's 1911 invention of the vacuum tube and electronic oscillator at that location. While not open to the public, the garage that housed the launch of Hewlett Packard is located at 367 Addison Av. Hewlett Packard recently restored the house and garage. A second historic district on Ramona Street can be found downtown between University and Hamilton Avenues. Research Tips
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