At the corner of Senter Road and Phelan Avenue in San Jose, History Park is a small old-time town. History San José says the 14-acre site uses original and reproduction homes, businesses and landmarks to show the Santa Clara Valley's past, with paved streets, running trolleys and an old-fashioned ice cream parlor.

When to go

History San José lists the grounds as open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 2026. The historic houses and museums open only on Saturdays and Sundays, from noon to 3:45 p.m., and the trolley runs on weekends from noon until a last ride at 3:15 p.m. The gift shop is open weekends from 11:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., and O'Brien's Ice Cream Parlor from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. History San José says all hours can change and some events have special hours or fees.

Guided History Park tours run on Wednesdays and Fridays. They cover how people lived and worked in San José from 1850 to 1970. Parking is off Phelan Avenue. The site is closed on major holidays, including Christmas Eve and Christmas.

The estate behind the park

History Park sits at the south end of Kelley Park, a 156-acre city park along Coyote Creek. Judge Lawrence Archer, twice mayor of San Jose, bought the land in 1861 and planted 30 acres of cherry, apricot and prune trees. Wikipedia credits him as the first farmer in Santa Clara County to hire women and children to pick fruit. He named the estate Lone Oak.

His daughter Louise and her husband, Frank Kelley, renamed it "AR-KEL Villa." Pillars marked AR-KEL still stand along the pepper-tree drive off Senter Road.

In 1951 a group of San Jose Jaycees learned the family planned to sell the orchard for housing. Alden Campen, Ernie Renzel and Emily Renzel bought the first 63 acres for $142,000 and resold them to the city in installments, with Louise Kelley allowed to live there for the rest of her life. She died in 1952. The city went on to assemble the full 156 acres. Happy Hollow opened in 1961, the Japanese Friendship Garden in 1965, and construction on the History Park museum began that same year. The 1910 Kelley estate house was badly damaged in a February 2012 fire.

Also at Kelley Park: our Happy Hollow guide. And this weekend: Día de los Muertos at History Park.