22. ST. JAMES PARK
St. James Park and its environs were the heart of 19th century San Jose. While the Plaza had been the center of an older Latino settlement, St. James Park and its surrounding buildings reflected the aspirations of an emerging American city. Plotted by Chester Lyman in his 1848 survey, the park evolved over the next half century as the focus of many of San Jose's most important civic and religious buildings. It remains the city's most significant urban open space.

While the site had been considered as a possible future plaza by Spanish and Mexican authorities, it was not formally developed until after the U.S. takeover. In the years following the official survey, the park served a variety of purposes but remained unlandscaped until 1868. With the building of what is now Santa Clara County Courthouse, the park came of age as a grand public open space. A major landscaping plan was initiated and the square became known as St. James Park.

Throughout the late 19th century and early 20th century, the park took on increasing importance. Major public and private buildings – the Post Office, several churches, club and lodge headquarters – were built along its perimeter and it became a site for public gatherings and demonstrations. Major labor rallies took place in the park in 1931 and 1933. California's last lynching occurred here in 1933 – John Holmes and Thomas Thurmond, accused of kidnapping and killing the son of the Hart Department Store president, were taken from the county jail by a mob and hanged. Monuments commemorate speeches made here by President William McKinley and Senator Robert Kennedy, both assassinated shortly after their visits to San Jose.

In 1955, the character of the park was altered when it was bisected by North Second Street. The gracious scale of the surrounding buildings remains intact, and the park is a welcome counterpart to San Jose's busy downtown.

Downtown history walk