History Park, Historical outdoor museum in San Jose, United States.
History Park is an outdoor museum in San Jose featuring 32 historical buildings spread across several acres and connected by paved streets. Vintage trolleys run through the grounds and allow visitors to move between different areas.
The museum was founded in 1971 after Theron Fox proposed creating a reconstruction of an early 1900s town. The project aimed to preserve and showcase the development of San Jose and the region during that era.
The park's name comes from History San José, the nonprofit spun off from the San José Historical Museum in 1998, which runs the site from the upper floor of the replica Pacific Hotel. On weekends volunteers staff rotating exhibit buildings and drive a vintage trolley along the park's length, passing beneath the half-scale Electric Light Tower. Some buildings house local historical societies and galleries.
History Park occupies 16 acres at the south end of Kelley Park, with its entrance and History San José headquarters in the replica Pacific Hotel. Weekday tours are led by paid staff, often for school groups; on weekends volunteers staff selected buildings and run the vintage trolley along the park's length, including beneath the Light Tower replica. Admission is free except during special events.
The park holds a half-scale replica of the San Jose Electric Light Tower, erected upright on February 24, 1977; the original rose 237 feet over downtown at Santa Clara and Market. A vintage trolley run by weekend volunteers passes beneath it, and a static display includes Southern Pacific locomotive 1215.
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