Most of the land was bought from Dr. Russel V. Lee, founder of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, who offered 1,294 acres at $1,000 an acre in 1958. Voters approved the purchase in 1959 and the park opened on June 19, 1965.
From 1969 only residents and their guests could enter. After an ACLU lawsuit the city opened the park to everyone on December 17, 2020, and renamed it Foothills Nature Preserve in 2021. It holds nearly a tenth of the city’s land, with Boronda Lake, Vista Hill and the Towle Campground.