Street-Names of Palo Alto, California

If the outsider is persuaded to believe that the climate is the finest to be found anywhere, that his family will be happier or happiest in Palo Alto, that he can afford to pay his rent, and that he can either obtain suitable employment or a job, as the case may be, he may decide to locate there. If he does, one of the first things he must learn is how to pronounce the name of the city ( Pal-o rhyming with shallow), so that he will know where he is from, and will be able to tell others. If he is inquisitive he will want to know what the name of his home city means. Almost any citizen will inform him that it signifies tall tree, and that the Palo Alto redwood for which the town is named is still standing in its original position and may be seen free of charge any day in the week, or on Sundays. Next, our hypothetical newcomer will ask which way is North so that he can find his way about. After despairing of knowing this-for it is doubtful if the oldest settler really does know exactly where North is, and it would make no difference if he did-he finally realizes that he must know the names of the streets. Perhaps he has come from a place where there are the usual First, Second, Third and Fourth Streets, with the avenues named for the presidents. We might even imagine that he lived on Washington at First. In Palo Alto he will find no such regularity. Indeed, the streets present such a variety of nomenclature that they deserve to be examined and grouped, in order to show the likings of their namers and the heterogeneous sources whence they derive. A preliminary word may be said about the history of the city. It was founded in 1889 by Senator Stanford, its purpose being to serve 273

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