Atherton’s bucolic ambience is protected by its general plan that states that the town wishes “to preserve its character as a scenic, rural, thickly-wooded, residential area with abundant open space and with streets designed primarily as scenic routes rather than for speed of travel.”
Home to large summer estates of wealthy San Franciscans in the latter half of the 19th century, Atherton incorporated in 1923, naming the town for Faxon Dean Atherton who had been one of the first property owners in the area. Early residents wanted a town that would be divided into large parcels and would not contain businesses. A few of the large land holdings were subdivided during the 1920s and 1930s, and in the 1940s and 1950s over 80 subdivisions were recorded, but with the minimum sizes of one acre.
The town jealously guards its natural environment. Native live oaks, white oaks, bays, redwoods, cedars, pines and other ornamental trees cover the town’s six square miles. Holbrook-Palmer Park, is an 22-acre, tree-covered open space that offers recreational programs and has facilities for functions.
Atherton is served by four public elementary schools, a public middle school and a public high school, plus two private schools – Sacred Heart (K-12) and Menlo (6-12).