St. James Park

Chester Lyman mapped St. James Square in 1848, and by 1885, with a fountain at its center, people were calling it a park. It covers 6.8 acres between First and Third streets, with North Second Street and the light rail running through the middle. (Wikipedia)

The McKinley statue was unveiled in 1903 where the president had spoken in May 1901, and Robert F. Kennedy spoke in the park on March 23, 1968. (Wikipedia)

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, finished in 1863, is the oldest church building in continuous use in San Jose; to enlarge it, the redwood church was cut in half and pulled apart by horses. Across Third Street, the First Unitarian Church, begun in 1891, has domes, cupolas and a triple-arched window. (Wikipedia, Wikipedia)

The park and nine buildings around it became the St. James Square Historic District in 1979. The park also holds a hard memory: in 1933 a mob lynched two men there, an event described as the last public lynching in California. (Wikipedia, Wikipedia)