David Blockhus
CRS, GRI, MBA
A Brief History of
Los Altos Hills
The first residents of this region were the Ohlone tribe. In the last 100 years many
artifacts, relics and human remains have been discovered. These discoveries have
made it very clear their existence was real.
One of the first non-native visitor was Juan Bautista de Anza, the famous explorer that led an expedition in 1776 on his way to explore the Bay of San Francisco. Later, many more strangers would make their way to this bountiful land.
Many missions were constructed by the Franciscans under the leadership of Father Junipero Serran in the early 1700's. The closest of these missions to Los Altos is Santa Clara which was dedicated in 1777. The colonization's of the missions was brought to a stopping point by the Act of Secularization, which gave land to the natives for homes while the church still stayed at the center of each of their communities.
When Mexico had freed itself from Spanish rule, it began giving out land grants to encourage Catholic natives and naturalized citizens of Mexico to settle California. What is now called Los Altos Hills was once part of Rancho San Antonio, a land grant given in 1843 to Juan Prado Mesa, a Mexican soldier. The larger portion of Los Altos Hills was part of Rancho la Purissima concepcion granted in 1840 to Jose Gorgonio and his son, Jose Ramon, Indians from Mission Santa Clara.
After the War with Mexico, California was ceded to the United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed in on February 2, 1848. California was brought into the Union September 9, 1850. In 1854, Juana Briones de Miranda, purchased Rancho la Purissima Concepcion. A part of her adobe home still stands on Old Trace Road.
The initial development of Los Altos was credited to Paul Shoup, an executive of the Southern Pacific railroad. His vision was to link the cities of Palo Alto and Los Gatos by Los Altos becoming a commuter town on a rail line. Later he joined his efforts with others to promote the beauty of the area by creating the Altos Land company in 1906. Interested parties were lured to the area by free railroad excursions from San Francisco and complimentary picnics alongside the tracks in Los Altos.
The city grew and prospered. After World War II, Los Altos Hills, like Los Altos, experienced growing pains. While Los Altos was deciding their incorporation Los Altos Hills was becoming concerned with the zoning and county planning being done around them. The Homeowner associations banded together and the Town of Los Altos Hills became official on January 27, 1956. The minimum residential lot size was decided to be no less than one acre.
For more information on Los Altos Hills, visit Los Altos Online
Today
Today, the city offers a lovely rural community with many opportunities for fine shopping
and fine dining at nearby Los Altos. The city has a more out of the way
country feel and offers a high standard of living. Nearby Los Altos also has many
cultural events and theaters. As part of Silicon Valley, Los Altos Hills benefits
greatly.
Education
A community of high education, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills has California
recognized and Nationally recognized schools. All eight schools are included on the
list of the Top 100 schools in California and students consistently score among the top
two percent in all categories of the achievement tests statewide. Students attend public
schools based on their area of residence. High School students attend either Los
Altos High School or Mountain View High School, which is part of the Mountain View-Los
Altos Union High School District serving grades nine through 12 for the Los Altos, Los
Altos Hills and Mountain View areas.
Students in the most southern part of Los Altos attend Montclaire Elementary School and Cupertino Junior High, both are part of the Cupertino Union School District and Homestead High School part of Fremont Union High School District. Some students from sections of Los Altos Hills are assigned to schools in Palo Alto Unified School District: Lucille Nixon Elementary School, J.L. Stanford Middle School and Gunn High School.
There are many private schools to choose from. Higher education can be obtained from local and nearby institutions: Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, De Anza College in Cupertino, Menlo College in Atherton, San Jose State University, Stanford University and Santa Clara University.
For more information on Los Altos, visit the city of Los Altos web site.
110 First St., Los Altos, CA 94022
(650) 917-4250 - Phone
(650) 948-3749 - Fax
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Blockhus - All Rights Reserved.
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