Washington Township Museum of Local History

A short walk from Mission San José, in Fremont's old mission town, a former fire station holds one of the best small history collections in the East Bay. The Washington Township Museum of Local History covers the farm towns that became Fremont, Newark and Union City. Two horse carriages, a cobbler's bench, a grand piano that came around Cape Horn, mammoth fossils from a local gravel pit and a shelf of Teddy Ruxpin bears all share the space. A California native plant garden grows on the grounds.

This page replaces a planned guide to the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, whose 2026 hours we could not confirm on its own website. The Museum of Local History tells part of that story too, with a display on the Niles film studio. Everything below comes from the museum's calendar page and exhibit pages, checked on November 2, 2026. For the wider city, see our Fremont guide.

The firehouse and the museum

The Mission San José Fire District built the building around 1954. Local people raised the money, bought the land and put up the station. Volunteer firefighters staffed it until the City of Fremont took over. It then served as Fire Station No. 4 until a new station opened at Pine Street and Paseo Padre Parkway in 1994. The city then redesigned the building and leased it to two historical groups, the Mission Peak Heritage Foundation and the Washington Township Historical Society. They formed the Museum of Local History Guild to run it, with a board and bylaws. The building serves as both a museum and a research library for historical books and documents.

What "Washington Township" means

Before Fremont existed, southern Alameda County was Washington Township, a string of small towns among farms, vineyards, orchards and salt ponds. The towns included Niles, Centerville, Irvington, Mission San José and Warm Springs. Decoto and Alvarado, now Union City, belonged to the township too, as did Newark. Five of them joined to form Fremont in 1956. The museum's goal is to keep the memories, documents, artifacts and buildings of that farming era and the suburban change that followed.

Open days and entry for late 2026

The museum and garden open every Wednesday and Friday, plus the second Saturday and Sunday and the fourth Sunday of each month. All hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is a suggested donation of $2 per visitor or $5 per family. Members and children 5 and under are always free.

Note that the museum lists itself open on Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving. For private tours or a visit outside these days, call 510-623-7907 or email info@museumoflocalhistory.org.

What to see

The permanent galleries are organized by theme. Highlights from the museum's exhibit list:

• Washington Township. Early photos and maps of each small town.
• Getting Around. Two carriages and tools from the age of the livery stable.
• Boy Paleontologists. From 1944 to 1960 a group of boys from Hayward dug fossils from the Bell Quarry gravel pits off Osgood Road in Irvington. Finds included mammoths, saber-toothed cats, horses, camels and rodents.
• Mission and Rancho Days. Items from the Vallejo family, pictures of the mission and a model of the Higuera adobe.
• Movies in Niles. Photos of silent stars Broncho Billy Anderson and Charlie Chaplin from the years Essanay Studios worked in Niles, plus a Niles brick.
• School Days. A giant school bell, desks and books. Washington High School was the area's first high school and the museum says its district was the second public high school district in California.
• Growing and Raising Food. Vineyards, grain fields, orchards, dairies, nurseries and poultry farms, with a wine press and produce boxes.
• Buying What You Need. Local stores and businesses, including Cloverdale Creamery, which made and delivered milk products from 1927 to 1994.
• Mission Shoe Store. Sit at the cobbler's bench of shoemaker Joseph Sunderer and trace your foot as if ordering shoes.
• Meeting Friends and Having Fun. A grand piano owned by C. J. Stevens of Centerville, shipped from New York around Cape Horn in 1860.
• Stepping Out. Furniture from the Alvarado Hotel and a projector from the Center Theater.

Special exhibits

• Worlds of Wonder and Teddy Ruxpin. The talking bear was born in Fremont in 1985. Its maker peaked at $327 million in sales in 1987 and was in bankruptcy court by 1989.
• The Touchable Then and Now Table. Old and new objects side by side that visitors may handle, such as an adding machine and a calculator.
• Sewing Corner. One of the first patented Elias Howe treadle sewing machines and a dress pattern from 1889.
• Elizabeth Lowrie. The story of a pioneer family daughter born in Newark in 1880 who became a librarian.

Getting there from Palo Alto

The museum is about 25 miles from Palo Alto, in the Mission San José district at the south end of Fremont. Allow 30 to 40 minutes by car outside rush hour, either across the Dumbarton Bridge and south on Interstate 880 or around the south end of the bay on Route 237 and Interstate 680. The museum sits in the old Mission San José district, close to the mission. Our East Bay travel guide compares the routes.

Tips for visiting with kids

• Head for the hands-on spots. The cobbler's bench and the Touchable Then and Now Table were designed for children.
• Fossil fans will like the Boy Paleontologists case, since kids found the bones.
• Pair it with the mission. Mission San José is a short walk away. Fourth graders working on their mission project can cover both in one morning.
• Ask about Passport to Adventure. The museum takes part in this program with other local sites.

Food nearby

The Mission San José district's small restaurants are within a few minutes' walk. Mission Pizza and Pub at 1572 Washington Boulevard lists lunch from 11 a.m. Tuesday to Friday and from noon on weekends, with dinner every day. It was confirmed on its own website in early November 2026. For more choices, see our Fremont food guide.

Events and related sites

• Book signing: Saturday, November 14, 2026, 1 to 3 p.m., with author Tim Swenson and his new book, Tom Kitayama: A Life of Flowers and Politics. Copies are $10. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day.
• Historic walking tours: the 2026 season, which covered Alvarado, Old Town Newark, Niles, Irvington, Decoto and the Palmdale Gardens, has ended. The 2027 schedule is due in March.
• Rancho Higuera Historical Park: the museum also opens the restored Galindo-Higuera adobe at 47300 Rancho Higuera Road once a month from April to September. It is closed for the rest of 2026.
• Native garden workdays: the Tri-City Ecology Center tends the museum's garden on the second Sunday of each month.

The museum is also working with Union City to reopen a history museum at 3841 Smith Street. For the rest of Fremont's past, visit Ardenwood Historic Farm or ride the Niles Canyon Railway from the old Niles depot area.

Frequently asked questions