Portion of Menalto Tract – San Mateo County

Documenting early 20th-century real estate sales in Menlo Park, CA.

This rare trio of blueprinted sheets was issued anonymously in the early 1900s to advertise a tract of land for sale in San Mateo County, not far from Stanford University. The eminent institution is prominently shown on the first page, which also labels properties as Bashford Smith and the Menalto Tract. An inset of those areas, lower right, has been marked up to show only a single parcel remaining.

The next page offers a succinct layman’s description of the property, including driving directions, major features, and various amenities (Stanford, phone lines, surrounding orchards, etc.). Manuscript updates note corrected acreage, the number of trees, and a reduced price of $7,000 to $3,500 cash. The given contact information is Bashford Smith of 625 Market Street of San Francisco – the likely origin for the piece. The final map presents a ‘tree plan’ of the property, noting the exact location of the oaks that dot the 3.5-acre property.