The background of modern Los Altos dates back to 1906, when Paul Shoup, a Southern Pacific Railway exec, developed the Altos Land Co. with friends. The group bought 140 acres of land in between Palo Alto as well as Mountain Sight possessed by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the innovator of the Winchester rifle. The firm prepared a brand-new town to offer the brand-new Southern Pacific Railroad cutoff in between Mayfield and Los Gatos and also named it “Los Altos” (Spanish for “the heights”) since the land was the highest on that particular cutoff.
In March 1907, at an outdoor land sale sponsored by the Altos Land Firm, possible customers participated in a promotional BARBEQUE and bought the initial community whole lots. The site of the sale, near today’s crossway of Foothill Expressway as well as Main Street, was the focal point of the brand-new community. The town’s name progressively spread out informally to identify a much bigger unincorporated location served by the Los Altos School District created in 1910, including what is today Los Altos Hills as well as portions of various other neighboring towns.
This bigger community’s population took off after The second world war, and also on December 1, 1952, an increased Los Altos came to be the eleventh city in Santa Clara County. As a result of reduced interest in train traveling due to the wide fostering of the vehicle, the Southern Pacific Railway, a crucial part of the town’s starting, ceased operation below in 1964, and also its right of way came to be Foothill Expressway.