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Meta Campus / Menlo Park / East Palo Alto in the 1870s -- Residence of Mayor Lester Cookey
Fine panoramic view of the Ravenswood Rancho and Lester Cooley Residence from the southwest, from Moore & De Pue's Illustrated History of San Mateo County.
The area shown was originally part of Menlo Park for a very brief period in the 1870s, but is now East Palo Alto, likely looking out toward the East Bay. The lands belonged to Lester Cooley, who by 1878 had assembled 400 acres which ran along Bay Road out to the San Francisco Bay. There, he raised cattle and grain and established one of the best dairies in the area. The property also included the old Ravenswood wharf built by Isaiah Woods. Cooley refurbished the wharf, which was known thereafter as "Cooley's Landing," for commercial use, and constructed a warehouse where the area's farmers could store their grain.
The land shown would seem to stretch from about Cooley Landing to the area which is currently the Meta (Facebook) Headquarters.
Menlo Park & Lester Cooley
Menlo Park was first incorporated in 1874, becoming the second incorporated town in San Mateo County. The town consisted of the area between the County Road (now El Camino Real) and the San Francisco Bay, from San Francisquito Creek to about the north side of today's Atherton. Lester Cooley (for whom Cooley Landing is named) was elected mayor.
The 1874 incorporation, which included Fair Oaks (later Atherton) and Ravenswood (later East Palo Alto) lasted only until 1876.
![[Coastal Orange County] Santa Ana Quadrangle](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/83561.jpg)
