In 1851, two Irish immigrants, Dennis J. Oliver and his brother-in-law D. C. McGlynn, purchased a tract of land on the former Rancho de las Pulgas. In 1854, they erected a gate with a wooden arch bearing the inscription "Menlo Park" and the date "August 1854" at the entrance to their property (now the intersection of Middle Ave and El Camino Real). The word "Menlo" derived from the owners' former home of Menlo (or Menlough) in County Galway, Ireland, and is an anglicized version of the original Irish name of the place, "Mionloch", meaning "middle lake".