SMC Places:Searsville

Map of Searsville - Situated on the El Corte Rancho The property of H. Templeton
Surveyed by A S Easton - County Surveyor San Mateo Apr 1866
Filed 1 May 1866 by Thomas H Noble, County Recorder

 "After traveling through the mines for some time, he returned to San Francisco and in 1853 came to this county. The next year he built a house on the site of what was afterwards Searsville. Here he established a blacksmithing and wagon making shop and in 1857, he was in partnership with the late Daniel Ford. Disposing of his Searsville property in 1861, Mr. Sears moved to La Honda where he has remained up to the time of his death. " RC Democrat 20 Jun 1907

So began the town of Searsville.  

In Jan 1862 floods swept away six sawmills in the vicinity of Searsville.   Simon Knight lost a child when a slide from the mountain rushed towards his house.  Simon managed to run with two children, but a son of five or six was crushed and buried when he couldn't run fast enough. The child, unnamed, was buried in Union Cemetery in Redwood City. (California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences (San Francisco)--Vol: XVI Iss:14 Pg: 130) 

Later that year the SMC Board of Supervisors granted SM Tilton  the right to construct a turnpike between Searsville and Pescadero, which was then in Santa Cruz County. (Supervisor Minutes Vol 19 pg 270 Road Account No 347)

San Francisco Bulletin, 23 Dec 1863 Vol:XVII Iss:65 Pg:3

SF Bulletin 3 Jul 1865 Vol:XX Iss:74 Pg:2

The town continued to grow.  A.A. Davis and August Eikerenkoetter opened hotels and advertised in the San Francisco papers. Advertisements for help could be found in local papers.

SF Chronicle 3 Apr 1869  pg2

SF Abend Post 3 Apr 1871 p2

Among those who could be found traveling from Searsville and staying in San Francisco hotels were WE Knott, August Eikerenkotter, E Edmunds and RJ Weeks.

Searsville School
courtesy San Mateo County Historical Association

By 1871 the town and surrounding area had grown enough to have 99 students as//////// .  However, in 1877 when the Grand Jury reported that the Searsville School Board had spent $600 on grand piano, there were only 30 students. (Weekly Alta California 14 Apr 1877 p2)

SF Chronicle 10 May 1881 p2

The Searsville Water Company was incorporated in 1872 to acquire water from Arrago Clanbique and Otter Creeks to supply the inhabitants of Searsville and the surrounding vicinity. 

In May of 1881 the Searsville Hotel and Store was put up for sale by August Eikerenkotter. (SF Bulletin, 16 Nov 1872 pg3)
By 1886 Searsville was being considered as a good site for a water project.  It was reported that Charles Web Howard as president of the Spring Valley Water Company had been purchasing land for a reservoir for about five years, and now had nearly all the land required. (SF Bulletin 7 Apr 1886 p3)  A description of the project can be found in the SF Chroncle on 30 Dec 1886. 

The building of the dam took a little longer than the three years originally estimated, but in 1891 the dam was complete, the buildings of Searsville were removed and Searsville Lake was filled.  

Thus ended the town of Searsville.

Some deaths recorded for individuals connected to Searsville include

• Nathan Dawley 23 May 1874 age 57  SF Chronicle
• Frank Booza Pioneer of the county committed suicide 27 Oct 1890 age 65 SF Bulletin
• Louis Stephens "French Louie" 19 Aug 1891 suicide SF Chronicle
• John P Kelly (born in Searsville) in MP 27 Nov 1898  SF Chronicle
• John H Sears 19 Jun 1907 SF Chronicle

courtesy of San Mateo County Historical Association

For Further Research.....
The Town of Searsville - Journal of Local History Summer 2009 RWC Archives Committee
When San Jose was Young: Searsville (San Jose Evening News 9 Mar 1918)
San Mateo County - SF Chronicle 25 May 1890
The Sears Family in Union Cemetery













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✍

Life Story and Family History Writing Group

We would like to form a local group to encourage, support, and learn from each other by sharing writing skills, tips, ideas, organizational strategies, etc.  A ‘sharing of writing’ component would be part of each session. You are invited to join us at a planning meeting on Sunday, Aug 6 at 2 pm. If you are interested, or have questions, please mailing Elle Hedenkamp at e.hedenkamp@stanfordalumni.org or Craig at craigincal@hotmail.com

We hope to hear from you! 

San Mateo County Places: San Gregorio

East Front From South East -  SAN GREGORIO HOUSE

• Digital ID: (None) hhh ca0851.photos.362900p 
• http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.ca0851/photos.362900p
• Reproduction Number: HABS CAL,41-SAGR,1--1
• Repository: LOC Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.  

In 1865 George Washington Tully Carter purchased five acres along the northern bank of San Gregorio Creek near the stage road.  Here he built San Gregorio House, a "summer resort for the citizens of San Francisco." (1)  Although Carter only lasted three years in what he considered a lonely place, by the 1870s the little town was thriving.  It had a school, a post office, a general store, a church, a blacksmith shop, a boot shop, a butcher shop, a Levy's store branch (1872) and of course a saloon. 

In 1875 the hotel was bought by John R Evans.  He preceded to add to the original building. Few changes have been made to the building which still stands today.   In 1888 the hotel was sold to the Palmers who ran it in partnership with Frank Bell, a native of the area.  Bell married the Palmer's daughter and the hotel remained open until 1930 when Mrs. Bell closed it, continuing to live on the premises.

Website for San Gregorio General Store 

In 1889 the current San Gregorio General Store building was added to the complex of buildings, which also had added another saloon and a Chinese laundry. The area was a major stop on the stage road down the coast from San Francisco.  A Chinese community grew up along the creek but eventually was washed away due to heavy rains. 

In 1915, the community was home to seven cheese factories.  

Report of the State Dairy Bureau 1915
Appendix to the Journals of the Senate & Assembly v5 p94

Residence of JB Harsha - Fairview Church in Background
Moore & DePue's Illustrated History of San Mateo County
GT Brown & Company 1878

Some Early Residents of San Gregorio & Vicinity 

Name, arrival, nativity, early holdings 1870 Census (holdings in 1877)

• Salvadore Castro (1114)
• Rodriguez 13344 15/100
• Jacob Downing 1853 New York (500)
• William S Downing 1854 Downing (600)
• George F Keiffer 1854 Virginia 190 acres  
• Joseph Keiffer (800)
• William Rayner 1857 England 748 Acres (748)
• George Watkins 1857 England
• John Ralston 1858 Pennsylvania 1200 acres (1037)
• William Ralston 1858 California
• George William Morrell 1860 Canada 180 (50)
• James W Bell 1860  Ireland  1140 acres
• JB Harsha  1862 Ohio 750 Acres (350)
• Alfred Fay 1863 New York 378 acres
• James Quintin 1867 Pennsylvania 1300 acres (1300) 
• Conrad Lautenschlager 1869 Germany 345 acres (450 24/100)
• Rane Capen Merrill 1870 Maine 240 acres
• Thomas Leary Baldwin  1873  - Maine
• A Marsh 1875 New York
• William Shields 1875 Ireland 262 acres
• K R Evan 1875 England 60 acres
• John Rayner (451)
• Newell (748)
• SM Culver (240)
• Alex Gordon (925)
• Alex Gordon (224)
• Rachel Dale (224)
• J C Richardson (150)
• LJ Dale (187)
• William Dale (187)
• Mary & J Dale 392 46/100
• Samuel W Preble 367 46/100
• John H Osgood 403 69/100

1.  San Gregorio House  An Enduring Heritage: Historic Buildings of the San Francisco Peninsula By Dorothy F. Regnery, Junior League of Palo Alto (Calif.), Historic American Buildings Survey
2.  History of San Gregorio - The Story of San Mateo County, California, By: Roy W. Cloud, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. Chicago, Ill 1928

San Mateo County Places - Weeks Poultry Colony

Before there was an East Palo Alto, there was Charles Weeks Poultry Colony or Runnymede.

Oviatt Digital Library Collections
CSU Northridge

Born in Indiana in 1873, Charles Weeks grew up on a farm.  After moving to California he started a poultry farm on ten acres in Los Altos in 1904. An inadequate water source doomed that venture. In 1909 he moved to a five acre farm on the outskirts of Palo Alto where he established new methods of raising poultry.  He used coops to hold his chickens rather than the large chicken runs that were common on poultry farms at that time. The "Weeks Poultry Method" was very successful and he had visitors from all over the country come to study his methods.

San Jose Mercury News
20 Jul 1916  pg 4

William E. Smythe, a socialist Utopian from New England, was one such visitor.  He had slowly moved west, settling in Nebraska and Idaho for a time before reaching California where he found that land with water rights was at a premium, which made it difficult for small farms to thrive.  By 1909 he had started a colony near San Diego on 120 acres where families settled on patches of land that they could work without hired help.  This colony of "Little Landers" thrived an in 1916 Charles Weeks joined the movement.

San Francisco Chronicle - 28 May 1916 pg 65

Weeks purchased hundreds of acres in Ravenswood, a port city that had been meant to rival San Francisco but remained mainly undeveloped when the railroad did not pass through.  He mapped out small farms, using the motto "one acre and independence." Weeks promised participants a "place of higher independence for man in his own garden home." His monthly publication, Intensive Little Farm, served as an advertisement, drawing new community members on a regular basis. Runnymead grew quickly, as those unable to afford farms through conventional methods were drawn in. By 1922 over 400 families were resident not only raising poultry, but also duroc hogs and maintaining truck gardens. (San Jose Mercury News 22 Feb 1920 pg 25) 

"The Model Acre" from One Acre and Independence  (Jul 1922)

By 1923, Weeks had left Palo Alto to establish a new colony in Ownsmouth in the San Fernando Valley. Although successful, both colonies were affected by the Great Depression and many of the farms faced bankruptcy.  In the 1930s some of the farms were turned into flower nurseries by Chinese, Italian and Japanese immigrants who were looking for inexpensive Bay Area land.

Weeks, himself,  lost nearly everything when the colonies failed.  He relocated to Florida where he died in 1964.

Today little remains of this agricultural use of the land.  Alan Michaelson and Katherine Solomonson explore the establishment and disestablishment of Week's Poultry Colony in Remnants of a Failed Utopia: Reconstructing Runnymede's Agricultural Landscape (Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture v.6 Shaping Communities - p3-20)  which includes pictures both historic and current.

East Palo Alto Historical Map
City of East Palo Alto

In recent years,  the method of raising poultry developed by Weeks has become very controversial as the cage-free egg movement mounts in the country.


Charles Weeks Collection - Oviatt Library - CSU Northridge
One Acre & Independence - Happy Quail Farms  good history here
California Utopian Communities by Robert V. Hine

San Mateo County Places - La Honda

John Sears settled the forested mountain area around La Honda (the Sling) in 1862 and built a small inn along the stage road to Pescadero.  Legend states that Jim and Bob Younger of the Jesse James gang helped with the construction.  (The original store was destroyed by fire in 1960.) 

The Marysville Daily Appeal reported on 4 Mar 1873 that the Senate Amendments to create post roads were to go into effect that day.  Those post roads included the route from Redwood City to Pescadero through Searsville and La Honda Junction.

A little colony and resort grew around La Honda Junction with saloons aptly named "Robber's Roost" and "Apple Jacks".  Since the 1870's La Honda has remained an area of lumbering and ranching with a population in 2010 of 928.

Sacramento Daily Union 18 Oct 1873

In 1873 a store and hotel at the junction were owned by Sayers and Lausman as reported in the tale of Major Pauline Cushman.





The Pacific Rural Press announced the opening of a new Grange in La Honda on 25 Jul 1874.  There were also granges in Pescadero, Ocean View and San Mateo.



On 28 Nov of that year the following letter which was placed in the Pacific Rural Press gives a picture of farming in the area.

You can find hundreds of articles about La Honda and its residents on the California Digital Newspaper website. Articles include reports of bear hunting, camping, visiting and visitors, court cases, employment advertisements, accidents as well as births, marriages and deaths. There are nearly 1000 from the San Francisco Call alone.  When searching be sure to use quotes around "La Honda" to avoid getting results for each word.

Links and More:

• Hanson's Mill at La Honda 1870
• Live or Die in La Honda
• Mobile Ranger: Old La Honda Road
• The La Honda Voice
• La Honda Historical Society no longer maintained but interesting info, including a 7 part lecture on the history of La Honda.
• La Honda - Wikipedia
• The South of Skyline Story
• Jones, Charles & Susan Friedman, A Separate Place,SF Sierra Club 1974
• La Honda - Arcadia Publishing

San Mateo County Places - Hillsborough

"Hillsborough is located on the Rancho San Mateo Mexican land grant which was purchased by William Davis Merry Howard, son of a wealthy Hillsborough (sic), New Hampshire, shipping magnate, in 1846. Howard settled his family in this area, which attracted wealthy San Franciscans." - wikipedia  


In 1910 the members of the Burlingame Country Club felt that the City of Burlingame was threatening their privacy.  On the 25th of April 1910 they held an election and voted to incorporate as their own city.  The actual incorporation took place on the 10th of May.

All was not smooth in that first year of incorporation.  In July the San Francisco Examiner reported that insurgent forces had gone down to defeat in their effort to stop the annexation of a particular strip of land.  That defeat was by a vote of 35 to 31, so quite close.

Hillsborough has no commercial presence.  Lot sizes and zoning regulations were established large estates intended for the wealthy.






Noting that the zoning laws have varied over the years, with minimum lots of 1/2 acre established in 1953 the Hillsborough official city website goes on to say......

"One of the main attractions Hillsborough has for home buyers is its charm. Hillsborough still offers its escape from the pressures of the city. In addition to its generally quiet atmosphere, Hillsborough has excellent, award-winning public schools, police and fire protection and public works service. These are the qualities that have formed the character of the Town and have remained stable for over 100 years."   

• City of Hillsborough
• Hillsborough Municipal Code
• Burlingame - Hillsborough History Museum
• Peninsula Royalty: The Founding Families of Burlingame-Hillsborough 

Book List

• Michael Middleton Dwyer; Ernest Sanson; Achille Duchêne; Willis Polk; Mario Buatta; Michael Hales; Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America. Carolands : Ernest Sanson, Achille Duchêne, Willis Polk, SMCHA 2006
• Bogart, Sewall, Carolands, Hillsboro: Imperious Survivor, SMCHA 1991
• Nelson, Janet, Ranchos Victorian, 1966 
• Svanevik, Michael & Shirley Burgett, No Sidewalks Here: A Pictorial History of Hillsborough 1992  
• Weinfield, Kenneth M., Hillsborough, California, USA, 1980

Newspapers 

• Hillsborough Boutique and Villager 
• Home Front News 6/1/1944-6/15/1946 A home newspaper for servicemen from SM, Burlingame and Hillsborough during WWII 1

San Mateo County Places : West Union pt 2

from the Collections of the San Mateo County History Museum

Although this blog covered West Union Township a few months ago the recent discovery of a fantastic map located in the archives of the San Mateo County History Museum dictates an update.  It seems that the map was drawn by Don and Phillip Kreiss in 1956, although there appear to be updates added in the 1980s.

I've included two photographs of the map here, the one above should give a good idea of where the schoolhouse stood.  The junction of Canada and Edgewood is a good point of reference.  The map shows the home of JV Swift among others and also some business, natural and man-made landmarks.

Unfortunately there is no mention of the cemetery on the map.  Most likely it was long gone before the Kreiss brothers explored the area. It also seems likely that it was

Quick phone camera pictures don't do this map justice!  What a treasure.  What other maps are hiding in the SMCHA archives?  I definitely need more time to explore.

San Mateo County Places - West Union

West Union Creek is a 4.5-mile-long stream originating on the east slope of Kings Mountain  and flowing down to the valley formed by the San Andreas Rift where it turns near the Phleger Estate to flow southeasterly on an unusually level course (for a mountain stream) to Adobe Corner in the town of Woodside where it joins Bear Gulch Creek, which in turn flows to San Francisquito Creek and ultimately, San Francisco Bay. (Description from National Park Service)

The origin of the name "West Union Creek" is attributed to Willard Whipple who named it "Union Creek".  He established two mills along the creek that he intended to call East Union and West Union. Those designations did not take, the mills being called instead  Whipple's Upper and Whipple's Lower Mill.  The upper mill was more widely known and the area around it was soon designated West Union. The Upper Mill was located in a direct line from today's Whipple Road.

Golden Gate National Parks Trail Map - Phleger Estate
Showing Whipple's Upper Mill just north of Phleger Estate

San Mateo County Times Gazette reported on 7 Mar 1885  "A little village of about a dozen houses was formed on the banks of the headwaters of San Francisquito Creek. This little burg, taking its name from that part of the county in which it existed, was called West Union. Its inhabitants, of which there were few, consisted mainly of the millhands in the surrounding hills. Close by, cosily nestled in the woods, was the village burial ground, composed of about a half dozen graves of the victims of accidents in the woods and others.  ........The village has entirely disappeared and in the place of the adjoining graveyard can now be seen broad acres of farm land."

The San Mateo County Times Gazette reported on 11 Dec 1886 that ..... 

"Years ago a little cemetery was located at West Union some fives miles north of Woodside...Only one body has been removed from the cemetery...Alexander MacDonald...The land has come into possession of some Italians who desire to use the property as part of a vineyard." 

Alden Tagg in his Norcal-L  posting 10 Oct 1997 states "The cemetery I have a hunch was west of Canada Road, perhaps a bit south of the school site."  (see San Mateo County Places: West Union) 

West Union School circa 1910

A school was established in the area.  In a post to Norcal-L on 10 Oct 1997 Alden Tagg notes "... the USGS/GNI does not show a West Union, however the Woodside 7.5 quadrangle does.  I guess no one's perfect. West Union Creek runs about 1/2 mile west of Canada Road andcomes down from the hills running NE then turns SE to run into Bear Gulch Creek south of Woodside Road. The West Union School was NNE of where the WU Creek bends from NE to SE, about 1/2 mile south of Edgewood Road a bit east of Canada Road. Hwy 280 runs through the old school property."

There were 72 students when the San Mateo County Gazette reported on 22 Oct 1859 ......

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE – On the first day of July last, J.H. Pratt, Esq., who had been for some time engaged as teacher of the school at West Union, in this county, drew from the county treasury, one hundred and sixty two dollars, and two days afterwards started for San Francisco, since which time he has not been heard from. He was to have been absent but a few days, and was to have reopened his school after a short vacation. Mr. Pratt was temperate and regular in his habits, and his long-continued absence has created considerable uneasiness on the part of his friends. Fears are entertained that he has met with foul play. All his clothing and effects were left as usual – he having taken nothing with him except the clothing he wore at the time, and his money. He had recently purchased some land in Petaluma, and went to San Francisco to make a payment on it. We had a conversation with him just before he left, in which he stated that he should be absent but a few days, that he expected his wife out soon from the East, and intended to make this county his home. We do not know what State he came from. He was recently admitted to the bar in the District Court of this county, upon a certificate from the Supreme Court of Ohio. He was a rather short, thick-set man, sandy complexion, slightly bald, and about thirty-five years of age.

In Nov 1860 the school house was the site of county elections with  George F. Maynard serving as Inspector and  Robt. Greer and James Berry as Judges.  San Mateo County Gazette 6 Oct 1860

A petition dated 4 Nov 1861 stated, " The West Union (School) District shall be founded as follows, to wit; Commencing at the SE corner of the Wolf Ranch; thence West along the south lines of the lands of M Wolf and John Claffey to the point nearest the center of Sec 30 T 5 S R4W; thence to NE corner of the NQ quarter of Sec 9 T6 S R5W; thence East to the SW corner of the Home Farm; thence along the West line to the NW corner of said farm; thence to the SE corner of the Wolf Ranch. taking in Williams and Danl Ross to the old Watter Mill and to the Ride of the Mountain"

Signing the petition were: Robert Greer, OS Payne, Thomas Knights, Samuel Walker, Sylvester Waker
SH Snyder, M Erickson, Ales Little, Michael G Kelly, Jeremiah Conroy?, James Duffy, Edward Donnelly, Andrew McCormac, John Hanley, John S Richards, Michael McLaughlin, John Regan, Benjamin Ross, Michael Surrill ?, John Butte (Burke), Alex Stott, A S Bonen, Charles Hill

By 1920 only three students remained in the district and Superintendent Roy Cloud requested a temporary suspension.

Among those born in West Union was James V. Swift. Antone Scada and  Amada Valdes are listed in James Crowe's Death book as dying there and John Tomalis is listed in the Early Death Records.

West Union Creek Bridge
Sawmills in the Redwoods: Logging on the San Francisco Peninsula 1849-1967 Frank Stanger
The Town of West Union - John Edmunds

San Mateo County Places - Kings Mountain

Kings Mountain was the scene of extensive logging from the 1860's until the 1920's.  Thousands of acres of virgin redwoods were felled.  Today the area is again heavily forested with mostly second-growth trees.

Purissima Creek Checkerspot
Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional by Akkana Peck (1)

Located along both sides of Skyline Blvd, the community formed around the 19th century landmark hotel, the Kings Mountain Browhouse, which was run by the Frank King family. Until the 1950's the area was mostly populated by "summer residents." With the completion of interstate highway 280 the area became more accessible and is now a full time residential community.

It is a majestic area containing the historic Purisima Canyon and part of the former toll road to the west. Here you will find Methuselah-of-the-skyline a giant Redwood with an estimated age of 1800 years.

King's Mountain was the site of the 1953 crash of BCPA Flight 304 in which all passengers were killed.  Take a walk through the Purisima Creek Open-space preserve and you can still see remnants of the crash.

The first King's Mountain Art Fair was held at King's Mountain in 1963 to support the operations of the Kings Mountain Volunteer Fire Brigade.  Still going strong, it is run entirely by volunteers every Labor Day Weekend.  If you haven't been give it a try, if you have you know it is worth an annual visit.  Don't plan to park close, watch for the shuttle bus stops or incorporate a hike into your day.

• Kings Mountain Online
• Kings Mountain - Wikipedia
• King's Mountain Art Fair on Facebook
• Mid-Peninsula Open Space District
• King's Mountain on Flickr



King's Mountain - Mapquest

• King's Mountain by Arcadia Publishing

(1) Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

San Mateo County Places - Foster City

Foster City was literally planned and created by T. Jack Foster and Company.  In 1958, leaving a short term retirement, Foster took out a $200,000 option to buy Brewer's Island from Leslie Salt and Shilling Estate Company.   During the early 1960s marshland was filled and a road and utility system built to serve an ultimate population of 36000 in one of the earliest "planned communities" in the United States.

Foster City is rated the 9th safest city in California for 2015
by Safewise.com.

The town was under County jurisdiction until 1971 when it incorporated as a separate city.  Today it is a community of single family homes, condominiums, apartments, shopping malls and light industrial areas clustered around lagoons and waterways.

• The Creation of Foster City
• Foster City A New City on the Bay
• Foster City - Wikipedia 

• City of Foster City
• Foster City Municipal Code
• Foster City Historical Society 
• Foster City Chamber of Commerce 
• Foster City Branch Library 
• Foster City - Book List 

• Obituary of Patricia Foster (wife of T.Jack) 
• It's Time to Honor T. Jack Foster, Sr.

San Mateo County Places - Menlo Park

Oliver Diary

Menlo Gate

In 1854 two Irishmen, Dennis Oliver and D.C. McGlynn purchased acreage bordering County Road (El Camino Real) and built two houses with a common entrance.  They erected a wooden gate with high arches displaying Menlo Park, for Menlough in County Galway, in foot high letters  and the date Aug. 1854.

Nine years later the railroad arrived.  Though it was just the end of the line at the time, the station needed a designation.  A railroad official eyeing the gates as a discussion was held decided Menlo Park was an appropriate name.

On 23 Mar 1874, needing to raise money for road repairs, Menlo Park became the second city to incorporate in San Mateo County.  The city which included Fair Oaks (now Atherton) and Ravenswood (now East Palo Alto) was fleeting.  It dis-incorporated in 1876.

By 1911 Menlo Park was again discussing incorporation.  However, border disputes with neighboring Atherton kept the status as a village for another sixteen years.  In the meantime the establishment of WWI's Camp Fremont led to electrification and other improvements in the area.  Businesses grew up and the population grew from the prewar count of 2300.  The end of the war left enough service center activity that even after the camp's dismantlement that there was another effort to incorporate with the same boundaries as the city of 1874.  Atherton, however, had different plans and their representatives beat those of Menlo Park to the courthouse.  Final incorporation of Menlo Park took place in November 1927.

Links

• History of Menlo Park
• Menlo Park Historical Association
• Early Hotels
• Research Links
• Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce
• Historic Places
• Camp Fremont
• Nativity Church 1872
• Barron-Latham-Hopkins Gate Lodge
• Menlo Park Railroad Station   WBMRA
• Dibble Army Hospital
• Menlo Park School District
• St. Dennis Church 1856
• St. Bede's

Books and Articles
At Last: Menlo Park beyond the Gate
WorldCat Book List - Menlo Park   
SMCHA, La Peninsula, "Menlo Park-Oldest Railroad Station" May 1964

San Mateo County Places

Menlo Park - Stanford Village

                      Dibble  Army Hospital                    

Dibble General Hospital - district.mpcsd.org 

On 3 Jan 1943, the US War Department purchased 128 acres of land east of El Camino Real from Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.  An additional 11.94 acres were leased from Claude Lindsay.  Here, in anticipation of the need to care for wounded soldiers returning from Pacific operations, they built a hospital.  Originally named Palo Alto General Hospital it renamed Dibble Army Hospital to honor Colonel John Dibble.  He had been killed in an aircraft crash in 1943.

This land, which had been the estate of Mark Hopkins and included the mansion known as Thurlow Lodge, which was built in 1864 by William Eustace Barron, was quickly developed.  By the end of 1943 there were 115 buildings providing 2700 beds. Dibble specialized in care for the blind, neuro-psychiatry, orthopedics and plastic surgery.

The Anchora of Delta Gamma May 1946

Menlo Park in 1943 was still a small town.  The only store on Santa Cruz Avenue was on the corner of El Camino according to Dr. Bernard Silber who was transferred from Letterman Hospital in San Francisco to the new hospital.

The town grew with the new activity.

With the end of the war, the General Services Administration terminated the lease of 7.52 with Claude Lindsay on 31 Oct 1945. By 31 Jul 1946, the hospital was closed.  The remaining lease acres as well as 127 .27 acres that had been purchased were turned over to the Federal Public Housing Authority.  The FPHA returned the rest of the leased acres to Lindsay.

The .88 acres that remained were turned over to the War Assets Administration on 5 August 1946 an additional 41.607 acres were given to the WAA on 7 May 1947.  The WAA quit claimed their holdings over the next two years to the Methodist Church, Sequoia Union High School District, the Menlo Park Sanitation District and the City of Menlo Park.

Future of Stanford Village

The remaining 85.644 fee acres were utilized by FPHA for student-veterans housing purposes at Leland Stanford Jr. University (Stanford Village) beginning 15 March 1946.  The village consisted of 300 apartments for married students and 1500 dorm beds.  By 1953 the population was already waning as student housing became available on campus, but it wasn't until 1964 that Stanford Village was closed down.



The 1940s: On the Homefront 
California Military History in Palo Alto
Army Medical Department Optomology
California Military Museum - Dibble Army Hospital
Future of Stanford Village - Stanford Daily 28 Apr 1954
Last Days of the Village - Stanford Daily 28 May 1964

The site of Dibble General Hospital is currently occupied by:

* Stanford Research Institute
* City of Menlo Park
* United States Geological Survey
* West Bay Sanitary District
* First Church of Christ Scientist
* California Department of Fish and Game
* Several private owners