The El Sobrante Historical Society was founded in 2011 to “promote awareness and appreciation of El Sobrante Valley history through preservation and education and chronicling the community’s heritage for current and future generations.” El Sobrante has a complex history. Parts of El Sobrante are in the city limits of Richmond and the remaining parts are under county governance. Because of the town’s connection with Richmond, for further research in El Sobrante history, check out the Richmond Museum at richmondmuseum.org.

The Historical Society is located directly behind the El Sobrante Library and shares the building with the library’s Friends of the Library. The building was previously used by the first woman County Supervisor, Nancy Fahden, as her local office. She served on the board from 1977 to 1992.

The society has a small museum with such topic displays as De Anza High School, local fire district, early California Native Americans, and housing developments.

For archival research, there are De Anza High School yearbooks, photos, clippings and obituaries, and Environmental Impact Reports for local development, downtown El Sobrante, and the San Pablo reservoir upgrade. They have the studies for the possible incorporation of the city in 1955 and 1962. A unique artifact is a business journal that is the bar tab of Ed’s Tavern, showing the regulars of the bar. They also have some nice maps from rancho days through to the present. The weekly El Sobrante Herald newspaper is digitized from mid-1949 to 1974 and can be viewed on their computer. The website has many of the documents and maps for viewing as well as copies of past newsletters that have feature articles of El Sobrante history.