San Mateo has changed dramatically across generations, but pieces of its past remain visible throughout the city.

Historic buildings line downtown streets. Old transportation routes reveal how communities developed. Photographs preserve scenes that have disappeared. Homes, schools, businesses, parks, and public spaces carry stories of the people who lived, worked, traveled, and built their lives here.

San Mateo History brings those stories together through accessible articles, archival discoveries, historic photographs, and explorations of the city’s cultural and architectural heritage.