The city bought the land in 1881 from William T. Smith, who had bought it from the heirs of Juan Maria Ponce de Leon, the owner since 1827. By 1883 the park had a fence, a walled pond, a gazebo and 75 Chinese elm trees. In 1903 the City Council named it for the Battle of San Jacinto, where Texas won its independence.
The plaza was a busy transit hub. Horse-drawn carriages lined up here in 1907, trolleys stopped here, and in the 1950s it became a major bus stop. Decorative cannons from the park were stolen for use in the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s.
Three alligators were put in the pond, and at one point there were as many as seven. They moved to the El Paso Zoo in 1965, came back in 1972, and were removed again in 1974. The park was rebuilt and reopened on April 16, 2016, and many people still call it La Plaza de los Lagartos, the Plaza of the Alligators.