Stanford Facts: The Stanford Lands
The Founding Grant
In 1876, Leland Stanford purchased 650 acres of what had been El Rancho San Francisquito for a country home and began the development of his famous Palo Alto Stock Farm for trotting horses. In 1885, a year and a half after the death of their only child, Jane and Leland Stanford executed a deed of trust conveying the farm, along with several other parcels of land, to the trustees for the founding of the Leland Stanford Junior University. The size and varied topography of the 8,180 acres of foothills and plains they left to Stanford in the center of the San Francisco Peninsula provide a rare opportunity for comprehensive land use and resource management. About 60 percent of Stanford’s land today remains open.
The Campus Plan
Jane and Leland Stanford traveled widely before founding Stanford and wanted the Main Quadrangle and the Palm Drive main entrance to reflect European Beaux Arts formalism. They engaged Frederick Law Olmsted, the foremost landscape architect of the time. The Stanfords’ contentious collaboration with Olmsted and the architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge resulted in California Mission-inspired buildings of local sandstone with red-tiled roofs, surrounding a cloistered quadrangle with Memorial Church as its focus. The rectangular plan of the Main Quadrangle was designed to provide for expansion through a series of quadrangles developed laterally. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Great Depression and World War II intervened. The university’s campus planning, however, has returned to the original concept of quadrangles and connecting malls in its design.
Today’s Campus
With more than 46 miles of roads, a 49-megawatt power plant, two separate water systems, three dams and lakes, 78 miles of water mains, a central heating and cooling plant, a high-voltage distribution system and a post office, the university is a self-sustaining community. Stanford also provides or contracts for its own fire, police and other services. There are more than 670 major buildings at Stanford that incorporate 13.1 million square feet. Ninety-five percent of undergraduates live on campus, as do about 54 percent of graduate students and 30 percent of faculty members. There are 850 owner-occupied housing units for faculty on campus, as well as 628 rental units for faculty and staff. Stanford is one of the most energy efficient institutions among California research universities. The campus cogeneration plant produces all the energy the campus needs, plus an extra 20 megawatts at peak that is provided for public consumption. Stanford recycles more than half the waste generated on campus.
There are about 43,000 trees on the Stanford campus, with the Coast Live Oak the most common. Many of Stanford’s picturesque redwoods, cedars, Canary Island palms and eucalyptus trees have survived a century or more of drought, flood and change. There are more than 800 different species of plants on campus. The inner campus includes more than 1.4 million square feet of shrubs, 190,000 linear feet of groundcovers, 1.2 million square feet of lawns and 2,300 automatic irrigation valves. There are 24 fountains.
Sustainable Stanford
The Sustainable Stanford program is improving the university’s sustainability practices. Stanford received the highest grade among universities from the Sustainable Endowments Initiative in 2006. For instance, over the past decade, an energy retrofit program has reduced campus energy use by 195 million kWh—enough to run Stanford for a year. Water consumption has been reduced from 2.7 million gallons per day to 2.3 million since 2001. The recycling program diverts 60 percent of waste from landfills. Stanford’s Transportation Demand Management program has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Forty percent of food served in residences comes from local farmers. Stanford creates almost all of its electrical energy on campus through the cogeneration of electricity and steam from natural gas fuel, and excess power is made available in the electrical grid for other Pacific Gas and Electric customers on the Peninsula. See http://sustainablestanford.stanford.edu.
Stanford Research Park
Stanford Research Park was created in 1951 in response to the demand for industrial land near university resources and an emerging electronics industry tied closely to the School of Engineering. Today, the park is home to more than 150 companies with about 23,000 employees in electronics, software, biotechnology and other high-tech fields. Research and development and supporting service companies occupy some 10 million square feet in more than 162 buildings spread over 700 acres.Stanford Research Park was created in 1951 in response to the demand for industrial land near university resources and an emerging electronics industry tied closely to the School of Engineering. Today, the park is home to more than 150 companies with about 23,000 employees in electronics, software, biotechnology and other high-tech fields. Research and development and supporting service companies occupy some 10 million square feet in more than 162 buildings spread over 700 acres.
Stanford Shopping Center
In 1956, Stanford Shopping Center opened at the northern end of the campus in keeping with the Stanfords’ goal of using their land to provide support for the university. The 70-acre development, anchored by five major department stores and 140 retail stores, is one of the nation’s leading super-regional centers in revenue and sales per square foot. In 2003, the center was groundleased to, and is now managed by, Simon Property Group, Inc. The property provides rental revenue that supports the university’s endowment.
Stanford and Its Neighbors
Stanford's 8,180 total acres are in six different governmental jurisdictions:
| 5,178 acres in Santa Clara County |
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| 4,017 acres in unincorporated Santa Clara County |
| 1,161 acres in Palo Alto |
| 3,002 acres in San Mateo County |
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| 2,701 acres in unincorporated San Mateo County |
| 114 acres in Woodside |
| acres in Menlo Park |
| 76 acres in Portola Valley |
Stanford and its surrounding communities are interconnected in many important ways. The university considers its relationship with those communities to be vital in jointly addressing such crucial issues as growth, transportation and economic development. Stanford has been a major contributor to the economic vitality of the region. In 2006, the combination of local spending by employees, visitors and students, sales and property tax payments, utility and other direct purchases, contributed nearly $2 billion to San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
The academic campus is governed by a Community Plan and General Use Permit, issued by Santa Clara County in 2000, that allows Stanford to add two million additional square feet of academic facilities and up to 3,000 new housing units on campus while preserving more than 2,000 acres of the campus foothills in Santa Clara County for 25 years.
Transportation Programs
Stanford’s history of providing transportation services begins with a horse and 12-person buggy service to and from the train station just across El Camino Real. It was replaced by the electric streetcar in 1909. Today’s award-winning programs, recognized by various environmental groups, include the Marguerite bus system; the Commute Club; free or pre-tax passes on Caltrain, VTA, Dumbarton Express and Line U; car rental options; commute planning assistance; charter services; and a bicycle program. There are five parking structures and about 21,000 parking spaces on campus. With more than 6,700 Commute Club members in 2006-07, a smaller percentage—52 percent—of faculty, staff and students commute by single-occupancy vehicle compared to the national drive-alone rate of 77 percent.
The Marguerite shuttle, which serves the campus and connects Stanford with Palo Alto, has a fleet of 34 buses operating on biodiesel fuel with a daily ridership of more than 5,000 and annual ridership of more than 1.3 million. The Marguerite offers a 13-route system that is free to the public.
