The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1928-03-16
A CITY BUILT AROUND
A E
I'D
(By The Associate Editor)

Eron San Francisco to Palo Alto, a distance of about
90 miles. there are a succession of small towns, commuter
towns for the most part. AT Redwood CITY tve miles
north Of P. A., there is a large cement works.
Palo Alto is a city of homes and is essentially a clean
city. both morally and atmospherically. The air is not
filled with the fumes of factory smoke, and white clothes
NAV hang on the clothes line all day without becoming
spotted with coal SCOT. And most peoples wash does
hang on the line all day, for it takes that long to dry
unless a wind is blowing.
Literary Atmosphere Pervades
If one wants statistics, it is said that the population
has increased within the last ten years from about 1000
to over 10000. Many people make their homes here and
go back and forth each day to San Francisco where they
are in business. 1t has 45 miles of paved streets with
five miles more scheduled to be paved this year.
Being built around Stanford university, or rather
being built up as a Stanford town it reflects the culture
of a great universfty-even the streets are literary
Emerson, Coleridge. Cowper, Kingsley, Bryant, Byron,
Tasso. Homer, Lytton. Tennyson. Kiping, Hawthorne,
Poe, Lowell. Lincoln, etc. Nice. classic, serious names
those but I have tramped the town over, searching vainly
for AIDE street or Cobb boulevard, or Lardner Court. Oh,
we'll, the city is growing rapidly. its inhabitants boast,
so perhaps one of these days they will lay out a funny
section and immortalize some of the present day laugh
makers. Swinnerton, author of the Jimmie comics, him
self. lives here. Kathleen and Charles Norris are build
ing a mansion in the heart of the residence section. The
building is just enclosed so that one cannot Judge how it
will look when completed, but the ground floor seems as
big as that of the Sherman hotel. Rumor says that there
are to be II bath rooms, but that may be exaggerated,
maybe there are to be only 16. My ambition to catch a
glimpse of these noted authors will probably not be real
lied, as they are in Europe passing the time until their
cottage is finished.
The 800 "Frst" Were The Highest
Architecturally speaking this is an interesting town
one can almost trace the seven ages of houses. First the
solid square-built house of the 9Os, with balconies and
gingerbread cornices and perhaps a corner tower or two.
They say there are 300 First houses" in Palo Alto. but
quite a few of these are now turned into rooming houses.
Then came the shingled houses with a brownish stain.
These two ages came before the earthquake and were
usually two or three stories in height, later models remain
closer to the ground. Without p%arodying Shakespeare's
classic seven ages through, I have observed that larger
houses are of the Colonial, the English, the Mission or
Normandy types for the most part, while there are lots
of small stucco houses built in the Spanish or the pueblo
style. One large house was pointed out to me as being
of the Mexican type. 1t was not particularly attractive
on the outside, but was built around a large court on
which the windows and doors opened. Flowers and
shrubbery around this house were also Mexican. Herbert
Hoovers home on Stanford campus is of the pueblo style,
straight-sided stucco walls with narrow windows.
Proving Art and Business Harmonic
There is a very unusual building in the business section
Of the city. Tt is built of cream colored stucco with tile
and houses a number of little shops. Handmade
tiles decorate the entryways to the shops. AT one place
there is a fountain surrounded with plants and vines.
Tiny goldfish dart about in the bowl of the fountain. The
most curious thing about the place is the fact that the
shops are built around an immense oak tree, and in the
little court canopied by the big tree there are messy
stones, and ferns and wild flowers growing with studied
carelessness. A delightful spot. A row of stone steps
leads up to a studio. The sign of the place is painted on
piece of board suspended from a limb of the tree. In a
niche there is a bell, with the inscription on it in
that it was taken from the Del Rio mission, one
u IL missions eStaDllSneQ IN the 18th century bY the
monks. The owner and designer of this
'diiding is the curator of the Stanford museum and both
ne and his wife are artists. | have been told that it was
he wife who made the tiles that decorate the front of
he building.
Charming Variety of Trees
Another place, in the residence section, I was interest
"a to see a house where a great live oak, about three feet
diameter was apparently growing right through the
porch. In reality the porch had been built around
he tree, which spread, like a great umbrella over the
louse. In a number of places l have seen the sidewalk
quilt out around a big tree that happened to be in the
inc of survey for the street.
I have especially enjoyed the trees and flowers here.
There are a large number of trees that remain green all
winter. Both date and fan palms are grown a great deal
me main entrance to Stanford university. an avenue.
perhaps a mile in length, is lined with palms, and there
ire a great many growing on the campus. The live oak
rec is always green, but leaves are constantly diving and
alllng to the ground, making a lot of work for those who
you'd have neat lawns. There are many Eucalyptus
both on the campus and around town. These trees
o not shed their leaves but instead shed their bark each
ear. 1t looks strange to see the smooth naked boIes
tretching upward with streamers of bark perbaps fifteen
r twenty feet long hanging from the branches in untidy
ashton.
Riot of Color From FIowerinq Shrubs
When we came the Acacia trees were in full bloom.
soft masses of yellow flowers. Now they are past
heir most attractive stage and the blossoms are falling.
laking the ground or sidewalk beneath them look a 6 if if
'ere covered with ground mustard. The Towering al
has also been in blossom for the last three weeks
is interesting when a little wind is blowing to see the
falling like big snowflakes. At one place where
le street is bordered with almond trees on both sides
lie petals drifted up against the curbing like snow.
he Japanese ounce is a beautiful shrub with flame
1lored blossoms-some people have whole hedges of the
There are two varieties of Towering peach that
re beautiful. One is a double flower of pale pink
zach blow and the other is daan carica f;o otoIa