enlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of

California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East
Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City to
the west. Menlo Park is one of the most educated cities in the state of California and the United
States; nearly 70% of residents over the age of 25 have earned a bachelor's degree or higher.
[7]
 Menlo Park had 32,026 inhabitants according to the 2010 United States Census, which had
grown to an estimated 34,549 inhabitants by 2018.[8][9] The city is home to the corporate
headquarters of Facebook and where Google and Round Table Pizza were founded.

Contents

 1Geography
 2History
 3Demographics
o 3.12010
o 3.22000
 4Government and politics
o 4.1County, state, and federal representation
 5Education
 6Economy
o 6.1Top employers
 7Notable people
 8Sister cities
 9See also
 10References
 11Note
 12External links

Geography[edit]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.4 square miles
(45 km2), of which 9.8 square miles (25 km2) is land and 7.6 square miles (20 km2) is water. The
total area is 43.79% water. Menlo Park is long and narrow on a northeast to southwest axis. The
northeast portion borders the San Francisco Bay and includes the Dumbarton Bridge that
connects Menlo Park to Fremont on the east side of the bay. The city shoreline includes the city's
largest park, Bedwell Bayfront Park 160 acres (65 ha) and the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay
National Wildlife Refuge.[10] San Francisquito Creek marks much of the southeast border of the
city. West Menlo Park (not part of the city despite its name) 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 northwest to southeast
near the shoreline and somewhat parallel to it to the southwest is El Camino Real. The
intersection of El Camino Real and Santa Cruz Avenue is considered the heart of the city.
Nearby, the Menlo Park Civic center is bounded by Ravenswood Avenue, Alma Street, Laurel
Street and Burgess Drive. It contains the council offices, library, police station and Burgess
Park which has various recreational facilities. Other major roads include Sand Hill Road in the
Sharon Heights area.
The residential areas of Menlo Park can be unofficially divided into several neighborhoods. From
"east" (northeast toward San Francisco Bay) to "west" (southwest toward the Pacific coast), they
are defined by the Palo Alto Weekly as follows:[11] Belle Haven is the only neighborhood east of
Route 101; much of the rest of that area is business or protected land. Between 101 and the
roughly parallel Middlefield Road are the neighborhoods of the Willows, Suburban Park, Lorelei
Manor, Flood Triangle, Vintage Oaks, and South of Seminary (the seminary being Saint Patrick's
Seminary). Between Middlefield and El Camino Real are the Caltrain track and Felton Gables,
Linfield Oaks, and Park Forest. West of El Camino until the foothills of the Peninsula are the
neighborhoods of Downtown Menlo Park, Central Menlo Park, and Allied Arts (sometimes also
known as Stanford Park, it is named for the Allied Arts Guild in it). In the hills are Sharon Heights
and Stanford Hills. Several other neighborhoods are closely associated with Menlo Park but are
actually in unincorporated San Mateo county; these include Menlo Oaks and Fair Oaks (latter
part of the North Fair Oaks census area) between Bayshore and Middlefield, University Heights
(also known as West Menlo Park) between Sharon Heights and most of the rest of the city, and
Stanford Weekend Acres which is somewhat near Stanford Hills.

History[edit]

Menlo Park Station, ca. 1918

The area of Menlo Park was inhabited by the Ohlone people when the Portolá expedition arrived
in 1769.[12]
In 1795 the Rancho de las Pulgas land grant was made that include the area of the current city.
In 1851 two Irish immigrants, Dennis J. Oliver and his brother-in-law D. C. McGlynn, purchased a
1,700-acre (690 ha) tract of land on the former Rancho de las Pulgas.[13] 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).[14][15] The word
"Menlo" derived from the owners' former home of Menlo in County Galway, Ireland, and is
an Anglicized version of the original Irish name of the place, Mionloch, meaning "middle lake."[13]
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.[16] They named a nearby station "Menlo Park" after the sign.[13] The 1867 station building still
stands on the platform of the current Caltrain station, used by the local Chamber of Commerce. It
holds the record as the oldest, continually operating train station in all of California.[17] The town of
Menlo Park grew up around this station, becoming a popular home for San Francisco
businessmen.[13] A post office arrived in 1870, and the city was incorporated in 1874 (it would
dissolve after two years but would later be permanently incorporated in 1927).[14][11] The original
arch which gave its name to the stations and ultimately, the city, survived until 1922, when the
original arch was destroyed in an automobile accident.[13] The origin of the name of Menlo Park,
California (ca 1850)[15] pre-dates any work done by Thomas Edison (ca 1876) in Menlo Park, New
Jersey; Menlo Park, New Jersey was named after Menlo Park, California.[18]
In 1917/1918 a large portion of Menlo Park was the site of Camp Fremont, a training camp for, at
its height, 27,000 men being sent to fight in World War I. It didn't last long (the camp was
dismantled after the war), but army engineers paved the first streets in Menlo Park and laid the
first water and gas lines.[19][20] The army did retain the camp hospital, and it is now the site of a
Veterans Administration hospital off of Willow road in Menlo Park. In the autumn of 1918 a flu
pandemic hit Camp Fremont and killed 147.[21]
At the start of World War II, the US government bought the 260-acre (110 ha) 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 1943). After the war ended, some
of the land was sold to the city and became the sites of the main library and city hall. More of the
land was bought by Stanford University to house the increase in students due to the G.I. Bill; the
area was known as the "Stanford Village," which existed as studen