June 25, 1909 -- The first step towards the permanent improvement of the county road from the San Francisquito Creek to San Jose was taken by the county supervisors who ordered a survey made of the highway.
May 27, 1913 -- The City Street Improvement Company has started work on the stretch of state highway from the San Francisquito bridge to the Mayfield town limits and from the southerly end of Mayfield to Mountain View. Today's rain caused a brief halt in the work, but it will proceed as soon as the showers are over. The men employed on the highway are making their headquarters at Mayfield, although a few are boarding here.
August 19, 1913 -- It is announced that the state highway will be opened from Palo Alto to Mayfield the latter part of the coming week. It is a fine stretch of good road. Work has already begun on the state highway from the southern confines of the town to the Stevens Creek bridge. Mayfield citizens hope soon to fill up the gap of poor roadway through the town.
August 21, 1914 -- HIGHWAY COMPLETION -- Announcement is made that work will begin on completing the link of the state highway just across the bridge on the Menlo Park side a week from next Monday. Work is delayed until the completion of the Middlefield Road bridge to take care of the traffic. The Federal Construction Company has the contract. This is the only remaining link in this vicinity except the town of Mayfield, where work is also progressing on paving the main street.
November 5, 1914 -- The south side of Main Street has been completed and is now open for travel from Stanford Avenue to the Barrons Bridge.
November 14, 1921 -- PARADE TO CELEBRATE MAYFIELD HIGHWAY -- The opening of the new Mayfield State Highway will be celebrated ceremoniously next Wednesday morning by an automobile parade to start from Palo Alto at 9 o'clock. All automobile owners of the city are invited to take part, meeting at the City Hall in Palo Alto ... The paraders will drive through the town of Mayfield as far as the gates of the Barron Estate south of Mayfield, turning there for the return trip.
January 6, 1923 -- EL CAMINO REAL TO BE THOROUGHLY SIGN-POSTED -- HISTORIC HIGHWAY OF SPANISH PIONEERS NOW MARKED BY 4OO BELLPOSTS
February 2, 1926 -- PLANS FOR WIDENING STREETS IN MAYFIELD CONSIDERED BY CITY -- ....The proposed widening of El Camino Real, in Mayfield, is from the southern limits of Southgate to the Bartley Tract near the south border of the city. At the same time the highway would be straightened out and made uniformly 90 feet wide from property line to property line. A 66-foot roadway would be provided, with 12-foot sidewalks...
November 2, 1926 -- PAVING BILL TO BE PARTLY PAID BY STATE -- ....the state highway commission...[will] bear a portion of the expense of paving the roadway of El Camino Real between Stanford Avenue and Matadero Creek...
February 22, 1936 -- RURAL DISTRICTS OF LOS ALTOS, SOUTH P.A. GET ROAD BENEFITS -- Rural road improvements in northern Santa Clara County, which since July 1, 1935, have added more than 24 miles of pavement, eight miles of oiled surface and considerably longer stretches of rocked base -- all installed by county labor and equipment -- will be largely centered in the South Palo Alto - Los Altos - Mountain View area this spring and summer...Paved roads ...(will include)...Maybell Avenue, 2500 (feet)...
August 13, 1936 -- 101 HIGHWAY SIGN CHANGE IS PROTESTED -- .... an effort to keep historic El Camino Real on the map as the United States Highway 101...Formation of a permanent committee to fight the re-routing of traffic from El Camino Real to the Bayshore Highway between Santa Clara and San Francisco...the committee would trace the order for removal of the signs to its start. Apparently the order came from Washington...various conjectures as to the re-routing of traffic have been made along the peninsula, with rumors that powerful San Francisco interests engineered the move...
February 3, 1938 -- BAYSHORE GROUP FORMED TO FIGHT '101' REMOVAL -- Organization of the Bayshore Highway Association to oppose removal of the designation "U.S. 101" from that thoroughfare was announced today...
June 17, 1938 -- BEAUTIFICATION IS ANOTHER OBJECTIVE -- With victory in their fight to regain the "U.S. Highway 101" designation for El Camino Real behind them, members of the El Camino Real Association looked forward today to achievement of two more objectives: widening of the highway between Redwood City and Palo Alto and beautification of the thoroughfare...
November 7, 1940 -- CAMPAIGN OPENS TO PRESERVE MISSION BELL MARKERS ON EL CAMINO -- ....at one time there were more than 400 of the attractive bells to be found along the highway. Now less than half remain....
November 28, 1947 -- ASSOCIATION SPEARHEADS DRIVE TO REPLACE EL CAMINO BELLS....
JUNE 30, 1959 -- STATE PLANS EL CAMINO WIDENING -- SIX-LANE HIGHWAY TO EXTEND THROUGH PALO ALTO AREA -- The State Division of Highways is preparing plans to widen El Camino Real from the San Mateo County line to Matadero Avenue in Barron Park to a divided six-lane thoroughfare with left-turn storage lanes, curbs and gutters and a parking lane...The Palo Alto section of the highway now has four lanes of pavement for most of its length...
November 14, 1967 -- LET'S NOT REBUILD EL CAMINO BLIGHT (Editorial)...When the "restaurant row" stretch of El Camino Real is widened in Palo Alto, Barron Park, Los Altos and Mountain View, many commercial buildings will be moved back from the right of way. Their signs, neon and otherwise, have been a big factor in prompting a variety of land-development critics to term the area blighted. Should the public permit the signs to be rebuilt in the same garish, chaotic jumble one sees today?...it would seem healthiest in the long run if the facade(s) were reconstructed with a degree of subdued elegance befitting the "grand boulevard" look the highway will wear.
The Palo Alto City Council is in the process of asking the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to apply signboard controls identical to the city's for frontage in the unincorporated Barron Park section that runs along the west side of El Camino...the multimillion dollar widening project opens the way for getting rid of the most gaudy, gosh-awful specimens...the public is paying high severance costs to buy out the sleazy blight that is part of the existing frontage....
May 26, 1969 -- SOME REFER TO IT AS "THE HIGHWAY"; OTHERS SWEAR AT IT -- ....it was first established as a stage road, and the early towns of Mayfield and Mountain View grew up where the county road crossed early lumber and ranch roads...the section of El Camino Real now being widened hasn't had a major improvement job since 1930-31. At that time the two-lane road was widened to three lanes, and several sharp corners were eliminated. One of these was the present El Camino Way. The section of El Camino remained a three-lane highway until the early 1950s, when a fourth lane was added to eliminate the "suicide" center lane...State highway engineers and city officials hope that the new, six-lane section, with a landscaped divider and left-turn stacking lanes will unclog the busy artery...