The house and of land were sold to the City of San Jose in August 1951, to be used as a public park with the condition that Louise Kelley be allowed to live there for the rest of her life. According to History San José, Alden Campen, a prominent landowner and Jaycee in San Jose, learned the Kelley family was planning on selling the orchard in 1951 for a housing development, and since the city already owned the land east of Coyote Creek, he thought it could create a municipal golf course by purchasing the Kelley property and merging the parcels. However, the city lacked the funds, and so Campen joined with fellow Jaycees Ernie and Emily Renzel to purchase the initial 63-acre plot at a price of , to be resold to the City on an annual basis. Louise Kelley died in February 1952 at the age of 89, and the city embarked on purchasing the rest of the AR-KEL/Lone Oak estate, eventually acquiring bounded by Keyes Street (Story Road), Coyote Creek, Phelan Avenue, and Senter Road.
