The Hewlett-Packard Garage, a 12-foot by 8-foot shed at 367 Addison Ave. in Palo Alto, Calif., now stands beside such hallowed sites as the Alamo, Carnegie Hall and the White House.
The National Park Service on May 17 declared the site where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard began their partnership in 1938 a National Historic Landmark, among those sites and some 2,400 others considered historically significant by the agency.
The garage, which first appeared in Palo Alto city records in 1924, housed the Hewlett and Packard workshop as the former Stanford University classmates tooled around with a used Sears Craftsman drill press to create an audio oscillator in 1938. They formalized their partnership as Hewlett-Packard the following year and moved on to larger quarters in 1940, but 367 Addison is regularly considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
“The HP Garage has become a symbol of what can rise from humble beginnings with hard work and determination,” Gary Elliot, vice president of Brand Management and Design at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP, said in a company statement.
The garage was designated a California State Landmark in 1987.
HP purchased the property in 2000 and since restored the garage to its original state.
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