The village arose in the eighteenth century colonial planning, different from the traditional foundation of cities that made the Spanish in the continent.
In 1736, by order of the Cabildo de Leon sought to concentrate the scattered inhabitants of the Valley Aserrí, so it ordered the construction of a chapel near the area known as La Boca del Monte, which was completed two years later. That same year he was elected as patron St. Joseph parish and hence its present name. The chapel, which was very modest, was erected to help the parish of the mother church of Carthage.
San Jose had water problems, and that was one of the main reasons that immigration is not favorable for the population and grow slowly. However, the water supply was ensured by ditches, and the fertility of the surrounding fields, as well as installing it from the Tobacco Factory in Costa Rica made the urban concentration increased rapidly in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
As San Jose, unlike what happened to Carthage Esparza, was not an act of formal legal foundation, was not considered as a city or town of Spanish settlers, and consequently their long lacked the power to tell a town council or city council. In contrast to Hall, who was called Villa Vieja, popularly named the Villa Nueva or Villita, but this practice had no legal basis and was even banned by the authorities in 1801. It was not until the promulgation of the Constitution of Cadiz in 1812 when San Jose was able to tell for the first time City Hall. In 1813, a proposal by Rep. Florencio del Castillo Villagra Costa Rica, the Spanish parliament gave the title of city population, who lost in 1814 when Ferdinand VII of Spain annulled all proceedings by the courts. On return to absolutism was also dissolved the City Josephine, who had a very fruitful management. The municipal government was restored in 1820 to re-establish constitutional rule and the courts gave the city title back to the population.