Published May 29, 2025 · Last updated October 6, 2026
Valley Trails was a 1968 housing development by Morrison Homes in Pleasanton, built between 1968 and 1971 on roughly 140 acres along Hopyard Road. The development ultimately included approximately 488 homes, organized around a central system of parks, greenbelts, and pedestrian paths. Morrison Homes introduced several model houses at the opening and added new designs as construction continued.
Mapping Valley Trails
Valley Trails was built around North Valley Trails Drive and South Valley Trails Drive, off Hopyard Road in Pleasanton. Valley Trails Park sits near the center of the tract.
The streets continue the development's park-oriented identity through names drawn from national parks, including Glacier Court, Lassen Street, and Yellowstone Court.
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| The Valley Trails housing tract by Morrison Homes occupies the area off Hopyard Road and around North Valley Trails Drive and South Valley Trails Drive in Pleasanton. Image via Apple Maps. |
Valley Trails homes and architectural style
Morrison Homes offered Valley Trails buyers a range of house plans that varied in size, configuration, and number of bedrooms. The model lineup expanded as construction continued: four models opened in 1968, followed by one new model in 1969, another in 1970, and a final model in 1971.
The Valley Trails home designs
The original model homes provide a useful cross-section of Valley Trails' housing over the course of its development. Morrison Homes opened the tract with four models in 1968 on Sequoia Court and added three more as construction continued. Although buyers could choose among different floor plans and configurations, the models document the versions Morrison Homes chose to put on display at different stages of the development.
The Greenbriar House
This design offered approximately 1,311 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Original Greenbriar House model today via Google Street View. |
The Four-Way House
This design offered up to 4 bedrooms and up to 2 bathrooms. Added in 1970.
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| Built around a common floor plan, the Four-Way House was available in four configurations, from a basic two-bedroom home to expanded layouts with a family room, a third bedroom, or both. |
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| Original Four-Way House model today via Google Street View. |
The Willowwood House
This design offered approximately 1,549 square feet with up to 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| The Willowwood House featured a flexible room that buyers could use as a bedroom, den, or formal dining room, allowing the home to adapt to different family lifestyles. |
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| Original Willowwood House model today via Google Street View. |
The Hillview House
This two-story design offered approximately 1,834 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.
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| The Hillview House separated living and sleeping areas across two levels, with formal entertaining spaces, a large family room, and a walk-in pantry designed for busy family life. |
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| Original Hillview House model today via Google Street View. |
The Now And Future House
This 1 1/2-story design offered up to approximately 1,626 square feet with up to 4 bedrooms and up to 2 bathrooms. An expandable home added in August 1969.
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| The Now and Future House featured an expandable one-and-one-half-story design that could grow from a two-bedroom starter home with an unfinished upper level to as many as four bedrooms, allowing owners to add living space as their family's needs changed. |
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| Original Now and Future House model today via Google Street View. |
The Valleyview House
This design offered approximately 1,744 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.
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| The Valleyview House used a contemporary tri-level layout to separate formal entertaining spaces, a spacious family room for everyday living, and a three-bedroom upper level that provided a private sleeping zone for the household. |
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| Original Valleyview House model today via Google Street View. |
The Meadowfield House
This design offered approximately 1,386 square feet with up to 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Added in mid-1971.
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| The Meadowfield House was the final model added to the Valley Trails lineup, featuring a floor plan designed to separate family activity from private living areas, along with a vaulted-ceiling entry and distinctive contemporary styling. |
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| Original Meadowfield House model today via Google Street View. |
The park-trail plan
Valley Trails was organized around a landscaped internal greenbelt that connected the homes to shared open space. Rather than treating parks and pedestrian paths as leftover areas between streets and houses, Morrison Homes made the landscape part of the development's identity.
Contemporary advertising described Valley Trails as a “park-trail community” and used the slogan “Pick a fine home, put it in a park.” By 1970, Morrison Homes was describing the development as a “contained community,” emphasizing the relationship between the homes, cul-de-sacs, and continuous internal park.
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| Valley Trails presented in 1969 as a “park-trail community,” with a pedestrian greenbelt positioned as the primary organizing system of the subdivision. This framing underpinned Morrison Homes’ central slogan: “Pick a fine home, put it in a park. |
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| Valley Trails rebranded in 1970 as a “contained community,” shifting from the language of the park-trail community toward a cul-de-sac land plan connected by a continuous internal park. |
The school that never came
The original plan also included an elementary school at the end of the greenbelt system. The proposed school would have extended the pedestrian network and reinforced the development's internal organization.
The school was never built. By the early 1970s, changing enrollment projections and financial pressures led Pleasanton Unified School District to abandon the proposal. Nearby Donlon Elementary already had capacity, and the reserved land was eventually absorbed into additional housing.
The unbuilt school documents another part of Valley Trails' development history: the neighborhood's final form was shaped not only by Morrison Homes' plans, but also by decisions about schools, land, and infrastructure made as construction progressed.
Sources
Collection
Pleasanton — building a suburban city
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