Skip to content
  • FAQ
  • News
  • Contact Us
Logo
 
  • ABOUT THE ARCHIVES
  • ABOUT HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. HISTORY
    • HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
    • EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
    • MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS & SALES
  • LOOK INSIDE THE VAULT
  • EXPLORE THE VAULT
  • FAQ
  • News
  • Contact Us
ABOUT HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. HISTORY
Hewlett-Packard Company Timeline
1930–1934
“THE FATHER OF SILICON VALLEY”

Stanford engineering Professor Fred Terman mentored four undergraduates who would become key to Hewlett-Packard, including Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. After Bill and Dave graduated, Terman also helped the young men get their business started. He would later serve as a director of Hewlett-Packard Company and would become widely regarded as “the Father of Silicon Valley.”

View Related Item
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard greet Fred Terman, the Father of Silicon Valley, in 1952.
August 23, 1937
THE FIRST MEETING

Bill and Dave held their first official business meeting, at which they agreed to establish a new venture together someday. The two men agreed that their company’s mission would involve designing and manufacturing products in the electrical engineering field.

August 1938
SETTING UP SHOP ON ADDISON AVENUE

Bill and Dave began part-time operations out of 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California. The duo used the property’s 12-by-18-foot detached garage as their first workshop, where early operations included adapting Bill’s oscillator prototype for production as well as freelance work.

View Related Item
Exterior photo of the garage at 367 Addison Avenue taken in 1939.
January 1, 1939
FOUNDING HEWLETT-PACKARD

Hewlett-Packard Company (HPC) was officially born when Bill and Dave formalized their partnership. They agreed to name the company after themselves, then determined the order of their surnames with a coin toss.

July 11, 1939
THE FIRST PRODUCT

Bill filed a patent application for Hewlett-Packard’s first product, the 200A oscillator. The groundbreaking design established Hewlett-Packard’s reputation for innovative, well-made technology, and its quick success helped Bill and Dave move from the garage on Addison Avenue to a rented commercial space in 1940.

View Related Item
The HP 200A audio oscillator prototype developed by Bill Hewlett at Stanford.
1941–1945
MAJOR EXPANSION DURING WORLD WAR II

World War II caused Hewlett-Packard to expand dramatically. In addition to increased company revenues, employment rose rapidly, which included many women and retiree workers. Wartime production also garnered Hewlett-Packard a good reputation for providing innovative, timely and quality products.

1942
THE REDWOOD BUILDING

Hewlett-Packard’s wartime expansion led to the construction of the first company-owned building, at 395 Page Mill Road. It was nicknamed “the Redwood Building.”

View Related Item
Exterior of the Redwood Building at 395 Page Mill Road. This was the first company-owned building.
December 1, 1946
FONG JOINS HPC

Hewlett-Packard hired Art Fong, the first known Asian-American engineer in Silicon Valley history. Even in the segregated world of the late 1940s, HPC was committed to non-discrimination, and the company’s decision would help set a tone for ethnic diversity throughout Silicon Valley.

View Related Item
Photo of Art Fong, the earliest known Asian-American engineer to work for a Silicon Valley tech company.
August 18, 1947
INCORPORATING HPC

Hewlett-Packard formally incorporated. Dave served as president and Bill as vice president.

1952
OLIVER LEADS HP LABS

Bill and Dave’s old Stanford classmate Barney Oliver joined the company. Oliver would be the head of research and development for the next thirty years.

View Related Item
Photo of Barney Oliver, the first head of HP Labs taken in 1973.
June 1957
ESTABLISHING THE HP WAY

Hewlett-Packard codified the HP Way in the company’s first set of corporate objectives at the now famous Sonoma meeting. The objectives would be refined throughout the ensuing years, but their principles would remain intact in emphasizing good citizenship, ethical business practices and respect for the individual alongside provisions designed to foster sound business strategy.

September 29, 1958
THE FIRST ACQUISITION

Hewlett-Packard reached an agreement for its first acquisition: F.L. Moseley Company. F.L. Moseley made graphic printing devices and associated equipment, which was a key foray into printer technology for HPC.

View Related Item
Photo of the production line at HP's Moseley division.
June 11, 1960
PAGE MILL ROAD

Hewlett-Packard moved into its new corporate headquarters at 1501 Page Mill Road in Stanford Industrial Park (later Stanford Research Park). HP Inc. continues to use the park for its own headquarters, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise relocated to San Jose.

June 5–18, 1964
ATOMIC TIMEKEEPING

Hewlett-Packard introduced the 5060A, the first all solid-state cesium-beam clock. It was a crucial watershed for atomic timekeeping and communications technology that relied on devices being synced across great distances. HPC demonstrated the new device’s accuracy by sending two synchronized 5060As on a 12-day global tour that included multiple stops at time standardization laboratories throughout both Switzerland and the United States.

View Related Item
Photo of two HP 5060As in commercial airplane seats during their global tour.
March 3, 1966
OPENING HP LABS

HP Laboratories officially launched. The new division was created to give engineers the freedom to pursue research and development without the pressure of needing to find an immediate path to monetization for their discoveries, thus allowing them to discover the technologies of the future.

November 1966
THE FIRST HPC COMPUTER

Hewlett-Packard introduced its first computer, the 2116A. It was developed to augment the company’s core business in instruments and testing devices, but wound up marking the beginning of a new business avenue for the company.

View Related Item
Photo of the HP 2116A, Hewlett-Packard's first computer.
March 11, 1968
THE FIRST DESKTOP CALCULATOR

One of the most important inventions in Hewlett-Packard’s history, the HP9100A, was introduced to a select audience at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers show. (It was announced to the general public in the September 1968 issue of the Hewlett-Packard Journal.) The 9100A was the world’s first commercially available programmable desktop calculator and the first scientific calculator.

View Related Item
The HP 9100A programmable desktop calculator (left/front view).
January 4, 1972
THE HP 35

Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP 35, the first handheld scientific calculator. The ability to execute advanced mathematical functions with a device that could fit in a shirt pocket was so revolutionary it triggered a consumer electronics craze.

View Related Item
An ad for the HP 35 with the calculator in a shirt pocket while subject holds a slide rule in their hand.
November 1, 1972
THE HP 3000 MINICOMPUTER

Hewlett-Packard shipped its first HP 3000 minicomputer, launching what would become one of the most important and popular products in the company’s history. The 3000 was HP’s first machine designed for commercial data processing.

View Related Item
Photo of the HP 3000 minicomputer and a man working at a nearby terminal.
1977
COMMITTING TO THE PC MARKET

In a sign of its commitment to the budding PC market, Hewlett-Packard created the Personal Computer Operation, a dedicated development department that operated out of the Corvallis, Oregon, division.

January 1980
THE FIRST PERSONAL COMPUTER

Hewlett-Packard announced its first personal computer, the HP 85. In a far-sighted recognition of the eventual direction of the market, the company designed the 85 to be a portable, self-contained unit – the display, keyboard and printer were all integrated.

View Related Item
Photo of the HP 85, Hewlett-Packard's first personal computer.
September 1983
THE HP 150

Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP 150, a watershed device for personal computing. It was the first HP machine to use a 3.5” floppy disk drive and among the earliest personal computing devices to feature a touchscreen – it tracked the user’s finger on the screen using infrared technology.

May 1984
THE FIRST DESKTOP LASERJET

Hewlett-Packard introduced the first desktop LaserJet (the 2686A). The printer was capable of offering letter quality printing without the screeching produced by dot matrix or daisy-wheel printers.

May 19, 1989
A HISTORIC HONOR

The State of California declared the garage at 367 Addison Avenue where Hewlett-Packard was founded a historic landmark and “the birthplace of Silicon Valley.” The site would be entered in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

View Related Item
Photo of the restored Hewlett-Packard house with a plaque indicating its listing in the National Historic Register.
March 9, 1999
CREATING AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES

Hewlett-Packard announced plans to spin off its test and instrument business into a separate company, Agilent Technologies. Agilent’s IPO would be the largest in Silicon Valley history at the time, raising over $2 billion, while Hewlett-Packard was able to focus exclusively on furthering the potential of computers and related devices to improve the way people lived and worked.

September 4, 2001
ACQUIRING COMPAQ

Hewlett-Packard announced the acquisition of Compaq for approximately $25 billion. It was one of the largest mergers in tech industry history, and dramatically expanded Hewlett-Packard’s offerings in both personal and enterprise computing.

View Related Item
Workers replace Compaq signage with an HP logo after the merger in 2002. The Compaq letters remain on a nearby surface.
October 6, 2014
HP INC. & HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE

Hewlett-Packard announced that it would divide into two companies. HP Inc. would focus on personal computing and printing, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) would focus on enterprise products. The division would be complete on November 1, 2015.

POWERED BY
Heritage Werks
© 2024 Hewlett-Packard Company Archives. All rights reserved.
HP, Inc. Terms of Use and HPE Terms of Use

  • About the Archives
  • ABOUT HEWLETT-PACKARD HISTORY
    • HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
    • EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
    • MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS & SALES
  • Explore The Vault
Tell Us What You Think Icon
Tell Us What You'd Like To See?
Tell Us What You Think Icon
Tell Us What You'd Like To See?
  • About the Archives
  • ABOUT HEWLETT-PACKARD HISTORY
    • HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
    • EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
    • MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS & SALES
  • Explore The Vault
POWERED BY
Heritage Werks
© 2022 Hewlett-Packard Company Archives. All rights reserved.
HP, Inc. Terms of Use and HPE Terms of Use