PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - HISTORY AND GENEALOGY RESEARCH

GOODBYE MAYFIELD?
Oakland Tribune, July 13, 1941
Memories mourn when old names depart from common usage. A town or city grows, absorbs a district when was once a village on its own, and all that is left for reminder may be the name of a street or the references of oldtimers.........The spread of Palo Alto, right now, is responsible for a move to erase from map and speech the name "Mayfield" which may become "South Palo Alto" or simply an unnamed district in the city. If so, there will be many to express at least a temporary regret for Mayfield has its traditions. The Times of Palo Alto, noting a businessman's plan to shelve the old designation, recently reminisced and dug into records. The community for which the name Mayfield stands, it said, is one of the oldest on the peninsula dating back nearly a century to James Otterson's inn on El Camino Real (1853) and the post office established there soon afterward (1855). This almost forgotten past is linked to the present by Page Mill Road, for Lumber man William Page married the first postmistress, Sarah Ann Smith, stepdaughter of "Uncle Jim" Otterson. It was to Mayfield that the first Stanford faculty members and students looked for housing and supplies. It was George LaPeire, a pioneer Mayfield grocer, who grubstaked so many families while the Stanford funds were tied up by a lawsuit. It lives in Stanford song and story for many reasons- not all of them causes for civic pride, perhaps, but most of them joyous and full of young vigor. Built into the foundations of Palo Alto are many old Mayfield family names. (see biographies of Mayfield Pioneers below)

Read More: South Palo Alto was once the original village of Mayfield

Mayfield 1904 Directory (off site)

Palo Alto City Directory 1895-1896 (off site)

Palo Alto Telephone Directory 1951 (off site)

Mayfield was part of the original
FREMONT TOWNSHIP

FOLLOW THE JUANA BRIONES de MIRANDA HOME PRESERVATION STORY

May 19, 2010-National Trust for Historic Preservation cites it (Briones Home) among nation's most endangered historic places
Read more at Palo Alto Online

"The first Mayfield School was in a little log cabin on Birch Street between Sherman and Grant streets. Nicknamed "The Herring Box," it was replaced in 1867 with Sherman School, a two-story barnlike building."
Would like to further document this, if you have any information please contact me- Carolyn

PALO ALTO STANFORD HERITAGE-
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and character of the greater Palo Alto-Stanford area

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