Middlefield Crossing: El Camino de en Media
California
The crossing at San Francisquito Creek near here was one of the oldest travel points on the San Francisco Peninsula. Before eighteen fifty-two, travelers moving between San Francisco and San Jose used a ford they called El Camino de en Media, the middle road, while the name Middlefield itself comes from a fence called the Middle Field fence that stood along the road by eighteen fifty-three.
As traffic grew, a bridge was built at what is now El Camino Real, and later a second bridge appeared at Middlefield Road itself. Even after those bridges existed, local records show that many travelers kept using the original ford out of habit, crossing right through the creek rather than going around to the bridge.
The creek itself marks the boundary between San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, the same line it has held for over a hundred and fifty years. The older name Camino de en Medio echoes in Middlefield Road, a reminder that this strip of the Peninsula was carrying traffic long before Silicon Valley existed.
