Plaques in brief

El Palo Alto: The redwood tree that stands near the railroad tracks at Alma Street is, of course, well-known in Palo Alto, though it doesn't look very distinguished these days. Legend has is that this was the tree that the first Spanish explorers spied and then camped under in 1769. Whether it is or not, history won't tell. Experts believe it to be more than 1,000 years old and was apparently twin-trunked until a storm washed half of it away in the 1920s. It is now dwarfed by several other redwoods nearby and looks rather sickly.

Indian Mounds: The Muwekma Ohlone Indians populated Palo Alto long before any settlers from the south or east arrived. Forty "indian mounds," mounds made from the Oholone's bones and garbage, have been found in the Palo Alto area. The Ohlone population in the Bay Area was thought to be about 10,000. The culture thrived for decades before the Spaniards arrived in 1769. Many villages were located on what is now Stanford University. The earliest sites date back as far as 9,000 years ago.

Secundino Robles Adobe Site: Secundino and Teodoro Robles bought Rancho Santa Rita, an 8500-acre ranch, from Joseph Pena and built a two-story hacienda on what is now Alma Street and Fern Avenue. Dances and bullfights were held there, much to the delight of the family's 29 children. Elisha O. Crosby bought 250 acres of this ranch and went on to name it Mayfield Farm.

Clarke's Landing: Jeremiah Clarke also bought a part of Rancho Santa Rita, as well as the Soto Landing at the end of what is now Embarcadero Road. This landing became known as Clarke's Landing. Colorado Avenue follows the road that he built to connect his two purchases.

Professorville: Bounded by Waverley and Ramona streets and Addision and Kingsley avenues, Professorville is a historic district where a large number of houses are of the shingle style design. A popluar design during Palo Alto's first decade, Professorville, named so because of its population of Stanford professors, followed the trend.

Ramona Street architecture: The 500 block of Ramona Street demonstrates the Spanish and early California styles of architecture and design through wrought iron, archways, tile roofs and courtyards. Many architects had a hand in the creation, including Birge Clark, William Weeks and Pedro de Lemos.

Invention of the Integrated Circuit: 855 East Charleston Road marks the spot where Robert Noyce and his team--founders of Fairchild Semiconductor Corp.--invented the first commercially practicable integrated circuit, a breakthrough that revolutionized Silicon Valley's semiconductor industry. Noyce and Gordon Moore, a fellow scientist and member of the "Fairchild Eight," went on to found Intel Corp.

Palo Alto's First Hospital: Located on Lytton Avenue at Cowper Street, the first hospital in Palo Alto was run by the Student's Guild. Although the guild had run an on-campus clinic since 1895, a typhoid outbreak in 1903 that killed eight Stanford students spurred them to rent the building in Palo Alto.

Middlefield Crossing: According to Staiger, this is where the San Francisquito Creek was forded before there were bridges across it. Because the creek isn't as deep here, wagons and horses were able to cross. Chances are, during the summertime, those traveling from mission to mission used this crossing.

Harbor Master's Adobe: During the Great Depression, when many people were out of work, the federal government, through the Works Progress Administration, would fund projects in many towns. This structure was built from that fund. The city of Palo Alto had great visions of its harbor becoming important and therefore gave the Harbor Master his office in the newly built structure.

Post Office: Built in 1932 and designed by Birge and David Clark, this post office is unique in the fact that it doesn't look like a federal post office. During the days when it was built, post offices had a very structured look that was dictated from Washington. This building is an exception. The story goes, according to Staiger, that Birge Clark was friends with Herbert Hoover, who was president at the time, and got his design approved because of pressure from the White House to let it go through.

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