1542 Cabrillo discovers California
1769 Don Gaspar de Portolá passes through area after
overshooting Monterey Bay
1839 Rancho San Antonio granted to Don Juan Prado
1847 Juana Briones de Miranda purchases Rancho Purissima
Concepcion
1850 Adobe house built on Old Trace Road in Los Altos Hills
1861 John Snyder purchases 650 acre ranch, begins grain
farming
1901 Purissima School built, now Chapel in the Hills
1906 Southern Pacific Railroad purchases townsite Banks
and Braes, changes name to Los Altos
1907 Altos Land Company lays out townsite
1908 Chandler School for Girls opens in former Merriman
House on Edgewood Lane
1908 First Southern Pacific station opens
1908 First elementary school classes meet in Shoup Hall
1908 Eschenbrucher Hardware opens, first commercial retail
business
1908 Post office opens in Esenbruecher Hardware on Main
Street
1908 First issue of Los Altos Star newspaper published
1908 Telephone service begins
1913 Los Altos Grammar School built at San Antonio and
Hillview avenues
1913 Union Church congregation forms
1914 Lantarnam Hall construction begins
1914 First library opens at First and Main
1919 First National Bank opens at First and Main
1922 First fire fighting unit organized
1924 Duvenecks purchase Hidden Villa
1926 St. Joseph's College Seminary opens
1931 First Volunteer Fire Department is organized
1937 Hidden Villa Youth Hostel opens
1939 Los Altos Fire District is formed
1947 First issue of Town Crier
1949 Movie theater opens on Main Street
1956 Town of Los Altos Hills is incorporated
1957 Library Commission established
1961 Foothill College moves to new campus
1971 Ohlone village site unearthed near El Monte and Summerhill
Avenues
