History Park San Jose

Walk through the gate at History Park and you are on a small-town main street from about a century ago. A gas station from 1927 stands near a replica bank, a firehouse, a hotel with an ice cream parlor and a print shop. Victorian houses line the side streets. Above it all rises a half-size copy of the Electric Light Tower that once loomed over downtown San Jose. On weekend afternoons a restored trolley clangs down the street and volunteers open the houses.

The park covers 14 acres at the south end of Kelley Park, about 20 miles from Palo Alto and the nonprofit History San José runs it. More than 30 buildings were either moved here from around the Santa Clara Valley or rebuilt from photographs. Entry is free. This guide covers the park's history, what to see, hours as History San José listed them on November 1, 2026, how to get there, accessibility and how to combine it with the rest of Kelley Park. Our San Jose day trip covers the city beyond.

How the park came together

History Park grew out of one man's collecting. In 1945 Clyde Arbuckle, a volunteer with a deep interest in local history, was named San José City Historian. A replica of California's first State House went up downtown in 1949 for the centennial of the first Legislature and Arbuckle curated an exhibit beside it. The replica moved to the county fairgrounds in 1950 as the State House Museum, with Arbuckle as curator. Donations piled up so fast that an annex built in 1958 was full by 1962.

In 1965 Theron Fox persuaded the city to set aside land at the south end of Kelley Park for a reconstructed small town. The San José Historical Museum opened there on June 18, 1971. The Light Tower replica was raised on February 24, 1977 and the replica Pacific Hotel and the historic Umbarger House were dedicated that September. By 1980 the site held the Associated Oil gas station, the Coyote Post Office, the Dashaway Stables, a doctor's office, the Empire Fire House, the print shop and a fruit barn. The museum was spun off as the nonprofit History San José in 1998.

The park still grows. In May 2024 an 1869 railroad station built for the Southern Pacific was moved onto the grounds. The same year an agreement was reached to bring in a house that belonged to Eiichi Sakauye, from land Japanese American families farmed for nearly 120 years.

What to see

• The Electric Light Tower replica. The original, 237 feet tall, stood over Santa Clara and Market streets from 1881 until it fell in 1915. The half-scale copy straddles the trolley line.
• The trolley barn. A 1984 replica where volunteers of the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation restore horse-drawn and electric streetcars and early cars. Destination signs from the old Palo Alto and Stanford streetcar lines are kept here, a link to our page on Peninsula streetcars.
• The Pacific Hotel. A replica of an 1880 downtown hotel that holds History San José's offices, an exhibit gallery and O'Brien's ice cream and candy shop.
• Ng Shing Gung. A replica of the 1888 "Temple of Five Gods" from San Jose's Heinlenville Chinatown. The Chinese Historical and Cultural Project runs the Chinese American Historical Museum here, with a carved gilded altar from 1892 upstairs.
• Cultural partner museums. The Portuguese Historical Museum, the Viet Museum of the boat people and the Republic of Vietnam and the African American Heritage House each tell part of the valley's story.
• Work and school. The Coyote Post Office of 1862, a working print shop, the Santa Ana one-room schoolhouse, built in 1871 in the Santa Ana Valley near Hollister and the Stevens Ranch fruit barn with photos and fruit box labels from the orchard years.

The fruit barn and the gas station are the best places to picture the "Valley of Heart's Delight" before Silicon Valley. Our Silicon Valley history picks up the story from there.

Hours, admission and tours

History San José's History Park page listed this 2026 schedule, marked as subject to change:

Admission is free unless an event says otherwise. Festivals and some special programs charge an entrance fee and may change the hours, so check the events calendar first. A History Park tour on Wednesdays and Fridays covers how people lived and worked in San José from 1850 to 1970; book it through the calendar. Questions go to 408-287-2290.

The 2026 holiday closures were New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Getting there from Palo Alto

By car

Allow about 30 minutes outside rush hour. Take Highway 101 south past downtown San Jose, exit at Story Road and go west, then turn left on Senter Road. Turn left on Phelan Avenue at the south end of Kelley Park. Parking is off Phelan Avenue near the entrance. The city charges $6 a day at Kelley Park lots elsewhere in the park, so expect a fee. If you are visiting from out of town, compare rental cars before you land, since Kelley Park is far easier to reach by car.

By Caltrain and bus

Ride Caltrain to San Jose Diridon, then take a rideshare of about ten minutes. VTA has served the corner of Senter Road and Phelan Avenue by bus. Check VTA's trip planner for the current route.

Accessibility

The park's streets are paved, which makes the grounds manageable with a wheelchair or stroller. Many of the houses are original 19th century buildings with front steps, so step-free access varies building by building and History San José does not publish a building-by-building list. Ask at the gift shop and information booth which buildings you can enter without steps, or call 408-287-2290 ahead. Vintage streetcars usually have high steps, so ask the crew about boarding. Unauthorized vehicles may not drive into the park, so arrange drop-offs at the entrance.

Tips and rules

• Come after noon on a weekend. That is the only time the houses and trolley run together.
• Bring a picnic, but keep it outside. Food and drink are not allowed inside the historic buildings.
• Keep dogs leashed. Leashed dogs are allowed on the grounds; off-leash dogs are not.
• No professional shoots without permission. Professional film and photography need prior authorization.
• Ride twice. Kids usually want another trolley trip, so arrive early enough to fit it in before 3:15 p.m.

Food nearby and pairing it with other stops

O'Brien's in the Pacific Hotel covers ice cream and candy on weekends. For lunch, Kelley Park has picnic tables and lawns. A few minutes away, Story Road and Tully Road are the center of San Jose's Vietnamese community, with pho, banh mi and dessert shops in many strip malls. Downtown San Jose is about ten minutes north for sit-down restaurants.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is a short walk north through Kelley Park and costs nothing to enter. Happy Hollow Park and Zoo fills a morning for small children and the park's 18-hole course appears in our disc golf guide. If your kids love the trolley, our kids and trains page lists rides closer to Palo Alto. Back home, the free Museum of American Heritage shows everyday technology in a 1907 doctor's house and has its own print shop. Our history buff weekend combines several of these. For a guided outing, browse San Jose tours.

Frequently asked questions