Portola Valley is a small town in San Mateo County, California. It began as a small lumber town named Searsville in the 1850s but by 1891, the redwood trees that had supplied the lumber were almost completely gone and the town died off. It left behind a reservoir today known as Searsville Lake and a few private ranches. One of the remaining farmers offered a part of his land as the site for a new school; a community soon began to grow around the school, which became known as Portola Village. It grew into a community of small farms, providing strawberries, cattle, and firewood. A few residents were seasonal, some stayed year round, but the town's residential community did not start to grow until after World War II. By the 1960s, rapid growth became a concern and the locals voted to incorporate in 1964. Today the city is a balance of residential and business areas, and undeveloped nature; open green spaces exist within the city and outside of it.