Silicon Valley Birthplace Marked By Hewlett Packard Garage

PALO ALTO, CA — A certain garage in Palo Alto will forever be preserved. It is considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley in a town celebrating 125 years of city hood.

Driving by it would be easy to assume this was just an ordinary neighborhood on the San Francisco Peninsula. The large sign out front of 367 Addison Ave. proves otherwise. The detached garage sits back from the road and house but is clearly visible from the street. The sign explaining the significance of the garage is near the sidewalk and driveway.

The sign says: "The garage is the birthplace of the world’s first high-technology region, 'Silicon Valley.' The idea for such a region originated with Dr. Frederick Terman, a Stanford University professor who encouraged his students to start up their own electronics companies in the area instead of joining established firms in the East. The first two students to follow his advice were William R. Hewlett and David Packard, who in 1938 began developing their first product, an audio oscillator, in this garage."

In 1989, California recognized the significance of the garage by naming it a state historical landmark. Beyond the significant 30-year anniversary in the Golden State, the garage was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Hewlett and Packard were students at Stanford University when they met and started collaborating.

Packard was living in one of the apartments with his wife. Hewlett used a shed on the property for his living quarters. Together they shared the garage to develop their products, the first being an audio oscillator that Walt Disney bought. The two men went on to develop computers, handheld computers and so much more that to this day is used in business and personal applications.

"This is where it all started," said Palo Alto Historian Steve Staiger, who once worked as the city's librarian. "People come here from all over the world. I've been there when people have come out of tour buses with cameras like they're going to some kind of shrine."