The Birth of Menlough (Park)

A housing development of 5 to 30 acre "villa lots" was begun along the new railroad by two brothers-in-law D.J. Oliver and D.C. McGlynn, from Menlough on Lough Corrib, Galway County, Ireland, who bought an 800+ acre piece of range land identified as part of "Rancho de las, Pulgas." They subdivided the land into lots that would he ideal for subsistence farmers, country gardeners, homes for blue collar workers, and support staff and servants of Atherton mansions and Stanford University buildings. The entrance to the new development was marked with an arched gate labeled "Menlo Park." When a railroad station was built to serve the town, the SJ&SF RR adopted "Menlo Park" as the name of the train stop. The homes weren't officially incorporated into a city until 1867 (to get funds to help build roads), but residents disincorporated the town in 1876 to avoid taxes, and the city of Menlo Park was not reincorporated again until 1927. (The Menlo Park gate met it's demise when somebody crashed an automobile into it in 1922. The original Menlo Park railroad station was disassembled and moved farther up the peninsula. The replacement Menlo Park railroad station, the one we are more familiar with today, has been recently repaired and given a refreshing new makeover--including a clock tower, fountain, benches, bike racks, parking, bus stops, and CalTrain platform.)

Railroad financiers R.E. and J.T. Doyle apparently claimed (took, bought, or were granted by the U.S. government) much of Rancho de Las Pulgas land for the Railroad, but they allowed wealthy Almaden miner W.E. Barron to buy 291 acres along Middle Road just north of University Park. Barron built a large beautiful mansion on the property (which was virtually a copy of the Bidwell Home in Chico) but he sold off 158.2 acres of land at auction in 1868. About 48 acres (including land occupied today by USGS-Western Region Center) was purchased by absentee owner D.S. Murphy, All of Barron's subdivided acreage was eventually bought back parcel by parcel and reintegrated into a kingly estate by 1876 by Senator Milton Latham. The Barron house (renamed "Thurlow" by the Lathams) burned down during remodeling, but an even grander house was built by Latham in 1875 to replace the former stately mansion.

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