This 8,200 square-foot, three-level museum opened in September 2001 and features the history of the Los Altos area, going from the Ohlone Indians to the high-tech era.
The permanent exhibit is "Crown of the Peninsula," but the museum also features a changing exhibits gallery and oral history collection. The museum hosts third and fourth grade students from area schools each year.
The museum is adjacent to the J. Gilbert Smith House, a 1905 Craftsman-style farm house that was part of the apricot orchard property that the city purchased for its civic center in 1954. Mrs. Gilbert lived in the home until her death in 1973, and the City Council created the Historical Commission to transform the house into a museum. It became the Los Altos History House in December 1977. Visitors can see the orchard house as it might have been during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The modern museum, with its soaring ceilings and expansive brick patio and arbor, is a popular place for weddings and other celebrations.