Timothy Hopkins of the Southern Pacific Railroad, a friend of the Stanfords, bought the land in 1887 and platted it as a townsite. It is bounded by El Camino Real, San Francisquito Creek, Boyce, Channing, Melville and Hopkins Avenues and Embarcadero Road.
It was proclaimed a local Heritage District during Palo Alto’s centennial in 1994. Early deeds in the tract forbade the sale of alcohol, a condition that reverted the land to Hopkins if broken.