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In 1866, 1500 acres, which now include Palo Alto Park, were owned by a millionaire named Joe Donohoe. It was the Rancho de Las Pulgas (ranch of the fleas). Ed Donohoe, his son, put in a swimming pool. He was very wealthy and maintained a play area there. Gov. Henry Haight bought out some of the Donohoe holdings. Subsequently, the area around the swimming pool was rented out. Prunes and strawberries were grown, using the pool for irrigation.
In the neighborhood of Weeks St. and Dumbarton Ave., the Bates Dairy produced milk and processed considerable amounts of cheese.
Camp Fremont was in Menlo Park, but a division of the camp, Camp Remont, was here in the Park area. It was a camp for horses and mules, however.
Around 1920, a circus company went broke on the road and came to the area around Bay Road., Dumbarton and Oakwood Drive to recuperate and to get a new show ready. They trained here all winter and started out in the spring with a successful show.
In 1924, the Park area was known as Ravenswood Park. It was bound by MenaIto Ave., Bay Road, Donohoe and Orchard Ave. (now Glen Way). The land was mostly used for pasture, with oak trees growing on the eastern side. The only street out here at this time was Palo Verde, which was used when Camp Remont was here. This accounts for the winding route of Palo Verde Ave. To reach this area from Palo Alto, streetcars ran out University Ave. as far as the bridge. From there, you would have to walk down University Ave. to Donohoe, then north on Donohoe to Palo Verde. The only store out there was a grocery store on Donohoe St, across from the library. Mail for many of the residents was left at this store.
End of part 2. Continued next week…
Everything else is just history
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