Mayfield
From Palo Alto Wiki
Mayfield was the earliest settlement in what is now Palo Alto. It grew up around James Otterson's hotel, which opened on El Camino Real at California Avenue in 1853. "Uncle Jim's Cabin" was patronized by travelers en route between San Francisco and San Jose and by lumbermen driving down from the hills.
Mayfield got its name from Mayfield Farm, owned and developed by Elisha Crosby. The land was original owned by Don Secundino Robles.
The town of Mayfield, centered in what is now the California Avenue business district, predated Palo Alto by some 40 years, being established in 1855. In fact, the original name of the College Terrace part of Mayfield was Palo Alto, until Senator Leland Stanford heard about it and had it changed.
Senator Stanford, after he decided to turn his horse farm into a university, met with Mayfield leaders in 1886 to discuss his plans for the university. He told them that his university would need a nearby town for its needs, and Mayfield was the closest town. But, he added, he didn't like the dozen saloons that had given Mayfield a somewhat unsavory reputation and suggested that they be closed.
The saloon owners won out, their establishments remained open, and Stanford went on to build his university and encourage the development of a new town, Palo Alto, north of Mayfield. Stanford thought so highly of Mayfield that he locked the gate from Escondido Road into Mayfield and kept it locked until 1913.
Symbolically and realistically cut off from Stanford, Mayfield suffered while its upstart neighbor, Palo Alto, prospered. When the Mayfield city officials finally outlawed the saloons in 1905, the town's reputation improved. As Palo Alto and Mayfield started growing toward each other, talk began of annexation.
