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1961 Map of Palo Alto

Name: 1961 Topographic Map of Palo Alto
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1962
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1962

About this map

The sprawling campus of Stanford University anchors the southern half of this mid-century survey, featuring The Quadrangle, a Mausoleum, and a Stadium before the area's modern densification. Along the shoreline, Salt Evaporators and extensive sloughs like Ravenswood Slough and Westpoint Slough define the edge of the San Francisco Bay, providing a stark contrast to the rapidly expanding residential grids of Redwood City and Palo Alto.

Transit patterns are dominated by the Southern Pacific railroad and the Bayshore Freeway, which cut through established neighborhoods and past numerous schools such as Menlo Sch and College and Harker Military Academy. To the west, the landscape rises into Jasper Ridge and the foothills, where Searsville Lake and Felt Lake serve as notable landmarks. This period reveals a Peninsula in transition, maintaining its academic and agricultural roots while industrial sites like the Quarries and Gravel Pit hint at the building boom of the early sixties.