Menlo Park

Sister cities

• Galway

History

The area of Menlo Park was inhabited by the Ohlone people when the Portolá expedition arrived in 1769. In 1795, the Rancho de las Pulgas Spanish land grant was made that included the area of the current city. Before and during the 1849 Gold Rush, successful businessmen from San Francisco, like Faxon Atherton and George C. Johnson began investing in real estate on this portion of the peninsula located midway between San Francisco and San Jose. In 1851, two Irish immigrants, Dennis J. Oliver and his brother-in-law, D.C. McGlynn, purchased a tract of land on the former Rancho de las Pulgas. In 1854, they erected a gate with a wooden arch bearing the inscription "Menlo Park" and the date "August 1854" at the entrance to their property (now the intersection of Middle Ave and El Camino Real). The wooden gate was modeled after the stone gate that stands at the entrance to the Menlo Castle estate in Menlo, Ireland. In 1863, the San Francisco and San Jose Rail Road had built the railroad from San Francisco to as far as Mayfield (now California Avenue station in Palo Alto) and started running trains to the area. They named a nearby station "Menlo Park" after the sign. The original arch, which gave its name to the stations and ultimately, the city, survived until 1922, when it was destroyed in an automobile accident. In the autumn of 1918, a flu pandemic hit Camp Fremont and killed 147. Although the camp was dismantled after the war, its hospital was retained, today the site of a Veterans Administration Hospital off Willow Road in Menlo Park. At the start of World War II, the US government bought the estate of Timothy Hopkins from his widow and created the Palo Alto General Hospital, later renamed the Dibble General Hospital (after Colonel John Dibble, who was killed in…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and are covered by water. San Francisquito Creek marks much of the southeastern border of the city. West Menlo Park (unincorporated area) along Alameda de las Pulgas nearly separates the southwestern part of the city (known as Sharon Heights) from the rest. The extreme southwest is clipped by Interstate 280. The Bayshore Freeway (part of U.S. Route 101) traverses Menlo Park from northwest to southeast near the shoreline, and somewhat parallel to the Bayshore Freeway to the southwest is El Camino Real. The intersection of El Camino Real and Santa Cruz Avenue is considered the heart of the city. The Menlo Park Civic Center is nearby. Other major roads include Sand Hill Road in the Sharon Heights area.

Race & ethnicity