In the spring of 2021 a new residence was being built on land that had previously been the location of homes belonging to two of the founders of Los Altos Hills - Bill Simrell and Rex Gardiner. These men had lived as neighbors in the area of Stonebrook Court and Oneonta Drive while they dreamed up the idea of incorporating the local area into a Town - to better control the type of development.that was taking place around them. That had been in 1955, and so it happened that the land where Bill Simrell had lived was sold to a new owner some 65 years later, and a new residence was planned for this large lot that overlooked Foothill College which had become established across a small valley from this site since the town was incorporated. In preparing the terrain for the new building, a large chunk of (what appeared to be) concrete was uncovered. On one side however it had a flat surface, inscribed with what appeared to be some text. Here is a photo of what they saw:     The Stele as discovered in April 2021 Further examination confirmed that it was indeed what archaeologists call a "Stele". Formally, this is defined as ...An upright stone slab or pillar bearing an inscription or design and serving as a monument, marker, or the like. In architecture. a prepared surface on the face of a building, a rock, etc., bearing an inscription or the like. (in ancient Rome) a burial stone.... The inscription dated the stele to 1908. To put that in context of the local area, we read the following in the local history ...The history of modern Los Altos dates back to 1906, when Paul Shoup, a Southern Pacific Railroad executive, formed the Altos Land Co. with friends. The group purchased 140 acres of land between Palo Alto and Mountain View owned by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the inventor of the Winchester rifle. The company planned a new town to serve the new Southern Pacific Railroad cutoff between Mayfield and Los Gatos and named it "Los Altos" (Spanish for "the heights") because the land was the highest on that cutoff. In March 1907, at an outdoor land sale sponsored by the Altos Land Company, prospective buyers attended a promotional BBQ and purchased the first town lots. The site of the sale, near today's intersection of Foothill Expressway and Main Street, was the focal point of the new town. The town's name gradually spread informally to identify a much larger unincorporated area served by the Los Altos School District formed in 1910, including what is today Los Altos Hills and portions of other neighboring towns.... The location where it was found... The particular land where the stele was found was not part of the land bought from Sarah Winchester, but it was close by - maybe a mile or so away. In fact the stele was found close to the point where three different historic areas met. Just to the North lay the land recently purchased from Sarah Winchester and that was destined to become the center of the City of Los Altos. To the South, the land had been divided historically into two separate Spanish Land Grants - the border between them defined by a creek flowing down from the coastal range to the bay, and known originaly as Yeguas, but later more commonly called Adobe Creek. On the one side of the creek lay the lands of what had once been part of El Rancho de la Purissima Concepcion. Subsequently it became part of a huge wheat farm owned by Martin Murphy, some 2800 acres of which he gave to William Taaffe in 1863 as a wedding present on the occasion of William marrying Martin's daughter Elizabeth. On the other side of the creek,the land that had formerly been part of El Rancho San Antonio was owned by Percy and Fanny Morgan at the time when the grave marker was placed in 1908. We know this because Fanny Morgan subdivided the land and filed the subdivision map on December the 14th 1908, just two weeks after the date commemorated on the grave marker - 30th November 1908. Then a month after the subdivision, in January 1909, Fanny Morgan conveys the land to her Mother-in-Law Laura Morgan - wife of Cosmo Morgan. What does the inscription say? On examining the text, we can see that the top and bottom lines of the inscription are relatively easy to read - the top two lines tell us that this is in Memoriam for "Roly" and the last line tells us that Roly died in November 1908. However, the intervening main body of the text is surprisingly difficult to make out. However, with a little bit of persistence we can piece it together:-     Text Deciphered So this stele comemorates Roly, a much loved dog - whose memory and eulogy live on some 130 years later. Roly In Memoriam There never was a dog so true Nor was one ever loved like you We all deplore the cruel end That robbed us of our little friend Died Novem30 1908   A little more background about the circumstances of that location.. As mentioned earlier, the Morgan Family owned a large piece of land here, just opposite and across the valley from today's Foothill College. Percy and Fanny Morgan later built "Morgan Manor" on what became one of the lots that was created when they subdivided their land. It was designed by Bay Area architect John Powers in 1916. His mission was to replicate a Tudor Mansion that Percy Morgan had seen in Lancashire, England, known as Speke Hall and built in the late 16th century, The building in Los Altos Hills still stands today as a magnificent English Manor surrounded by landscaping appropriate to such an estate.     Viewed from the front coming up the driveway     The other side   Three of the parcels created by this subdivision in 1908 were "sold" by Percy and Fanny Morgan to Laura and Cosmo Morgan for the princely sum of $10 - ceremoniously paid for with a single gold coin, to legaly convey the property "in return for value received". On one of these parcels, a smaller "cottage" was built (or had already been built) named "Little Gables" for the parents. Many years later, we know that William (Bill) Simrell - the leading figure in the effort to establish The Town of Los Altos Hills and architect of the first Town Hall - was living in this house at the time of the Town's incorporation. This is a photo of that cottage taken not long before demolition     "Little Gables" - in January 2019, prior to demolition. In a formal historic evaluation of this house written prior to demolition, we read in the summary: The subject house was built in 1909 or 1910 by a San Francisco industrialist and businessman named Percy Morgan as a residence for his retired parents, George Cosmo Morgan and Laura Morgan. At a later, unknown date the house was greatly altered in appearance, resulting in a new covering of wide wooden shingles, changed fenestration and entrances, and the removal of oriels from the end bays. Though no documentation of the alterations can be found, they were probably made by William Simrell, Jr., an architect who owned and lived in the house, and who played a leading role in the movement to incorporate Los Altos Hills during 1954-1956. It remains uncertain whether Simrell altered the house when he purchased it in 1949, when he repaired fire damage to the house in 1961, or at another time. William Simrell, Jr. was important in the movement to incorporate Los Altos Hills during the mid-1950s. Because it remains uncertain whether he altered the house before or after the years he worked on Los Altos Hills incorporation, it is difficult to say that this house is eligible for the California Register because of its association with him. It also does not appear to be eligible for its history or design.   Here is a picture taken of the cottage and its residents, taken around 1908...     "Little Gables" - Circa 1908 (Note the presence of a dog on the bench between the couple - could that be Roly?)   As the land where "Little Gables" once stood was being prepared for new construction in 2021, a stele was unearthed that commemorated a much loved dog named Roly. The stele did its job - Roly is remembered again as you read these words. ==========//==========