The land that now comprises Greenmeadow was originally part of the tribal lands of the Ohlone Indians. With the coming of the conquistadores the area successively fell under the control of first Spain, then Mexico, then briefly, the California Republic, and finally the United States.

The name, Palo Alto, is a Spanish reference to a tall twin redwood tree, still growing at the north end of the city.

During all these times the land was sparsely populated and was used mainly for ranching.

The city of Palo Alto, of which Greenmeadow is a part, got its start as a village to support Leland Stanford’s new university. It was incorporated in the spring of 1894. The original town was situated in the northern part of the present city. The Greenmeadow area continued to be agricultural until after World War II.

In the prosperity following the war, there was a significant building boom that spread Palo Alto toward the south. The pre-eminent builder in this boom was Joseph Eichler. Eichler, who was born in 1900, had only begun building homes when he was in his 40’s. (Prior to that he ran a butter and egg business owned by his wife’s family.)

Having lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright house, Eichler was working with architect Robert Anshen, of the firm of Anshen and Allen, on the design of a custom home, in the modernist style, to be built for Eichler. The two men fell into discussions of the possibility of building affordable tract housing in this same modernist style. The outcome of these discussions was a series of tracts of "Eichler homes" in south Palo Alto and elsewhere.