By Aiko Hill

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Like other small towns across the United States, Los Altos boomed with the arrival of the railway. By 1893, there were more than 250 railways in the nation and more than 60 percent of them had been electrified. As noted in the Los Altos Historical Resources Inventory of 1997, the electric streetcar was crucial to opening up the suburbs. That report describes two nationwide entrepreneurial policies that facilitated the outward movement of formerly city-bound populations.

The first was the practice of extending lines beyond built-up portions of cities and into the open country. The second policy was the 5 cent fare, which encouraged families to move toward cheaper land available on city peripheries.

This also led to private land speculation among rail company leadership. Los Altos followed this trend. The President of Southern Pacific Railroad, Paul Shoup, incorporated the Altos Land Company Oct. 19, 1907, with L.E. Petree as secretary. Interestingly, the University Land Company was incorporated on exactly the same day with Petree again listed as secretary. Both companies shared the same objective, the layout and sale of lots in Los Altos.

Prior to the rail system, three roads served as the main transportation routes serving our little town: El Camino Real, and El Monte and San Antonio roads. When the railway expanded, so did the pace of commerce. Through the early part of the 1900s, the train was king. By April 19, 1908, the Southern Pacific was running a regular route through Los Altos with five trains arriving daily. With this service, more families moved to the “country.” It was then that the 5- and 10-acre parcels that would make up the majority of Los Altos began springing to life and Santa Clara County was rocketing toward success.

But, as we all know, the roads regained their importance with the introduction of the automobile. The statistics on automobile production during the early 1900s are mind-boggling. In 1905, Ford built 8,000 cars. Ten years later they were building 2.3 million a year, and by 1925 they were producing more than 17 million. The railway continued to provide solid, dependable service to Los Altos into the early 1960s. But the automobile ultimately made it obsolete and service was discontinued in 1964. A way of life was gone, but a small thriving Village remained.

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