The HP Garage is a private

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

where the company Hewlett-Packard (HP) was founded. It is located at 367 Addison Avenue in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

. It is considered to be the "Birthplace of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

". In the 1930s, Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering

Frederick Terman Frederick Emmons Terman (; June 7, 1900 – December 19, 1982) was an American professor and academic administrator. He was the dean of the school of engineering from 1944 to 1958 and provost from 1955 to 1965 at Stanford University. He is wid ...

began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in the area instead of leaving California, and develop a high-tech region. HP founders

Bill Hewlett William Redington Hewlett ( ; May 20, 1913 – January 12, 2001) was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). Early life and education Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his ...

and

David Packard David Packard ( ; September 7, 1912 – March 26, 1996) was an American electrical engineer and co-founder, with Bill Hewlett, of Hewlett-Packard (1939), serving as president (1947–64), CEO (1964–68), and chairman of the board (1964–68 ...

are considered the first Stanford students who took Terman's advice. The garage has since been designated a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Though not open for public tours, the property can be viewed from the sidewalk and driveway.

History

The home, originally designated as 367 Addison Avenue, was first occupied in 1905 by Dr. John Spencer, his wife Ione, and their two adult daughters. Dr. Spencer became Palo Alto's first mayor in 1909. In 1918, the house was divided into two separate apartments, numbered 367 and 369. In 1937, David "Dave" Packard, then 25 years old, visited William "Bill" Hewlett in Palo Alto and the pair had their first business meeting. Both men attended Stanford University, where its Dean of Engineering

encouraged his students to establish their own electronics companies in the area instead of leaving California. In 1938, newly married Dave and Lucile Packard moved into 367 Addison Ave, the first-floor three-room apartment, with Bill Hewlett sleeping in the shed. Mrs. Spencer, now widowed, moved into the second-floor apartment, 369 Addison. Hewlett and Packard began to use the one-car garage, with $538 () in capital. In 1939, Packard and Hewlett formed their partnership with a coin toss, creating the name Hewlett-Packard. Hewlett-Packard's first product, built in the garage, was an audio oscillator, the

HP200A The HP 200A was the first product made by Hewlett-Packard and was manufactured in David Packard's garage in Palo Alto, California. It was a low-distortion audio oscillator used for testing sound equipment. It used the Wien bridge oscillator cir ...

. One of Hewlett-Packard's first customers was Walt Disney Studios, which purchased eight oscillators to test and certify the sound systems in theaters that were going to run the first major film released in stereophonic sound, '' Fantasia''.

Historical designations

* California registered landmark, 1987 *

, 2007

References

External links

Rebuilding HP's Garage
{{National Register of Historic Places Hewlett-Packard History of Silicon Valley Buildings and structures in Palo Alto, California Tourist attractions in Santa Clara County, California Houses in Santa Clara County, California National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County, California Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California