History · Menlo Park

Menlo Park’s post office opened in 1870, and 4 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns · #154 of 847 in California. What drives it

Most of Menlo Park was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1964. Below: 29 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1930.

1870first post office

4on the National Register

7%homes built before 1940

29old photos & papers

20famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Menlo Park’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Menlo Park began

When was Menlo Park founded?

1870

The Menlo Park post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 2,254 in 19302020 census: 33,780156 years

How historic is Menlo Park?

B⁻

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Menlo Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Menlo Park’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Menlo Park is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #154 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Menlo Park’s overall grade.

Founding era1870, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 19407.1% of homes (±1.9) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%C⁺National Register4 listings, 5 historic buildings, 1.5 per 10,000 residents · typical CA town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4B⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 50%

NewerOlder

California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 82%

Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Menlo Park’s 1.5 sits above most of its state (79% of California towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share (±1.9 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Menlo Park’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos29 old photos, postcards and papers, 1918–1973.On the map since 18976 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1991. Watch Menlo Park change.Lost villages10 hamlets and corners are still on the map.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1888 to 1908, drew every building in Menlo Park.

★ What stands out · By decade

Menlo Park, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item

191812th Infantry at

1920s–1950snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

1960s16 items

1967Menlo Park train station parking (October 1967)

1968Dian Fossey Redwood City Tribune 10-31-68

1970s12 items

1973Menlo Park El Camino Real 1973

1980s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

Today1 recent

2002Sky At Bayfront Park - Flickr - Dawn Endico

On the map

Menlo Park on the map, 1897 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Menlo Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1897Palo Alto sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Menlo Park.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Menlo Park’s post office has been open since 1870.

Hamlets and corners on the map

Belle HavenFelton GablesHendersonLinfield OaksPark ForestSharon HeightsStanford HillsStanford ParkThe WillowsVintage Oaks

Gone or out of use

Camp FremontmilitaryDibble General HospitalhospitalFremont SchoolschoolMenlo Oaks Elementary SchoolschoolO'Connor Schoolschool

1cemetery inside Menlo Park

Holy Cross

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Menlo Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Menlo Park.

Read it all →

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.

ChaptersOriginal Menlo Park gate Railroad Camp Fremont SRI International Sunset magazine headquarters Sharon Heights Development of Google Replica of Menlo Park gate

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Menlo Park in 1883

Passages that mention Menlo Park, cut from the printed page as they were published.

**History of San Mateo County, California, including its geography, topography, geology, climatography, and description, together with an historical sketch of California**1883 · page 231Read the page →
Read the text
Menlo Park. — Locally the name has become suggestive of wealth, with all its princely accompaniments. There are but few spots in California that offer a more enticing retreat than the oak groves in the vicinity of Menlo Park.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Menlo Park, 1870 to 1998

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1870Post officeThe Menlo Park post office opens
1897Born hereHenry Cowell is born here
1897On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20th century
1918In the archive12th Infantry at
1967In the archiveMenlo Park train station parking (October 1967)
1967Born hereMary Callahan Erdoes is born here
1973In the archiveMenlo Park El Camino Real 1973
1978Born hereJosie Maran is born here
1998Born hereTierna Davidson is born here

Every building

Menlo Park, building by building, 1888–1908

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Menlo Park fire insurance map, 1888, sheet 1

1888Sheet 1 of 1

Edition

Sheets

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this view12th Infantry at, 1918

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Menlo Park’s page.

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

4 historic places in Menlo Park

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1974

Menlo Park Railroad Station

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Victorian1

Stick Style1

Early Gothic Revival1

California Colonial1

Second Empire1

Menlo Park Railroad StationVictorian

Church of the NativityEarly Gothic Revival

Dunker HouseCalifornia Colonial

All 4 listings

Barron-Latham-Hopkins Gate LodgeBuilding · listed 1986

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Menlo Park, census by census

Grew from 2,254 people in 1930 to 33,780 in 2020, more than tenfold.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Menlo Park’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

20 famous people were born in Menlo Park

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Henry CowellAmerican composer, music theorist, pianist, tea… · b. 1897

Josie MaranAmerican model, actress, and entrepreneur · b. 1978

Tierna DavidsonAmerican soccer player · b. 1998

Mary Callahan ErdoesAmerican banker · b. 1967

Taylor EigstiAmerican pianist · b. 1984

Marcus ChaitAmerican actor · b. 1973

Help out

Finish Menlo Park’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old view12th Infantry at: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Palo Alto19 historic placesB⁺East Palo AltoIts storyD Redwood City10 historic placesB⁻West Menlo ParkIts storyC⁻Atherton3 historic placesA Stanford5 historic placesB⁻Fremont5 historic placesC⁻Woodside4 historic placesB⁺

Questions about Menlo Park’s history

What year was Menlo Park founded?

The Menlo Park post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Menlo Park rank for history?

Menlo Park is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #154 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Menlo Park?

4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Menlo Park Railroad Station (listed 1974, the first). 5 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Menlo Park?

7% of Menlo Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1964.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (30), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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