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Photograph of United States Post Office
Photograph by Sanfranman59, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

U.S. Post Office

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. 22 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1897.

From the record

“The Hamilton Station is a historic post office in Palo Alto, California. Formerly the main office for the city of Palo Alto, the post office was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 5, 1981, as the U.S.”

Wikipedia article United States Post Office (Palo Alto, California), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 117 National Register listings published here for Santa Clara County · listed in 1981 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 380 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto, 94301
  • When was it listed? April 1981
  • Category. building
  • Census division. San Jose
  • Architectural style. Mediterranean Revival architecture
  • Architect. Birge Clark
  • National Register reference number. 81000175 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1897 to 1997

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering U.S. Post Office, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet covering U.S. Post Office, surveyed 1897

Fires near this property

202 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 202 fires within 5 miles of U.S. Post Office between 1992 and 2020, burning about 139 acres in total. None started naturally. 21 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined119
Equipment and vehicle use28
Arson/incendiarism21
Smoking13
Misuse of fire by a minor12
Debris and open burning7
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2013Equipment and vehicle use1.2 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitALPINE
5 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
5 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
5 September 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionNB HWY 280 / SAND HILL R
26 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSanta Clara Unitnot named
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named

Every fire recorded in Santa Clara County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 16 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of U.S. Post Office: 5 producers, 5 past producers, 5 unknowns, 1 occurrence. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Mercury. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Ideal Cement CompanyLimestone, General, ClayProducer
Palo Alto Sewage SludgeGold, Silver, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Copper, Tin, PalladiumOccurrenceAsh
Farm Hill Cinnabar PropertyMercuryUnknown
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydriteProducerSedimentary
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Redwood Quicksilver ProspectMercuryUnknown
Bahr & Ledoyen, Inc.StoneProducer
Bahr & Ledoyen, Inc.StonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Santa Clara County

Storms near this property

6 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palo Alto, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 3 flood, 1 funnel cloud, 1 hail, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2026FloodPalo Alto-Flooding was reported on the offramp from southbound US Highway 101 to Embarcadero Road.
March 2020HailPalo Alto-Spotter reported small hail in south Palo Alto.
August 2020LightningPalo Alto-Lightning struck a utility pole in Palo Alto early Sunday morning causing a small fire and causing about 4,500 customers to lose power https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/08/16/storm-brings-fires-power-outages-to-the-bay-area.
December 2014FloodPalo Alto-Flooding reported on Stanford Campus on Campus Drive west between Lot E and the MCL building.
December 2014FloodPalo Alto-One lane of westbound Oregon Expressway Underpass is closed due to standing water on the roadway.
May 1998Funnel CloudPalo Alto-A funnel cloud was reported over the mud flats on the East side of HWY 101 in Palo Alto.. No buildings and only low vegetation exsist in this low lying area so it could not be confirmed if the funnel actually touched down in this area.

Every storm recorded in Santa Clara County

Maps showing this location

22 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Ramona Street Architectural District0.1 miles1986
T. B. Downing House0.1 miles1973
Woman's Club of Palo Alto0.2 miles2015
Palo Alto Medical Clinic0.2 miles2010
Theodore Zschokke Cottages0.2 miles2020
Fraternal Hall Building0.3 miles1990

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 81000175 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Santa Clara CountyAll 117 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.