Hostess House, Palo Alto
historic place
In Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, stands the Hostess House. This historic building was constructed in 1918. Architect Julia Morgan designed it for the YWCA. Its original purpose was to serve Camp Fremont as a meeting place for servicemen and their visitors during World War I. After the war, in 1919, the Hostess House was moved from its original site to Palo Alto. It then became the nation's first municipally sponsored community center. The building was dedicated in 1919 to those who died in World War I. The Hostess House is the only intact structure remaining from California's World War I Army training camps. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 30, 1976. A historical marker for the site was erected in 1976. This site matters historically as a unique surviving example of a World War I era facility repurposed for community use.