[2][3][4] He was inspired to create this museum in order to fill a void in the public's access to Mexican and Chicano art.

[5] The museum was originally located in San Francisco's Mission District on Folsom Street in 1975.

[1][8] The city of San Francisco has granted the Mexican Museum a 66-year lease for its future use of the site, renewable for 33 years.

[5][10] In 2017, archaeologist Dr. Eduardo Perez De Heredi wrote a report which stated that 96% of the museum's 2,000 pre-Columbian artifacts may not be authentic and could only be classed as "decorative"; thus only 83 pieces of 2,000, or just over four percent could be certified as “museum-quality.”[11] Perez De Heredia, said the rest of the pieces are still being studied, and may turn out to be real or not.

[12] He points out that U.S. museums often receive high-end forgeries as donations and the authentication process is meant to sort those out.