Parque Ribalta was created in 1868, six years after the arrival of the railway to Castellón de la Plana, with the purpose of beautifying the city's approaches and welcoming travellers arriving by train. The site it occupies had diverse uses throughout history: for centuries it was a mandatory passage towards the settlement and later served as a cemetery, before being transformed into a public garden.

The park is considered by experts the best preserved example of a nineteenth-century public park in the Valencian Community, standing out for having maintained its original structure. Its landscape ensemble, together with the Plaza de la Independencia and Plaza Tetuán, forms one of the spaces of greatest historical and artistic value in Castellón, which led to its declaration as a Cultural Asset of Interest in 1981.

From its inauguration until the late 1980s, it was the only park located in Castellón's urban centre. This condition as a unique space made it the epicentre of the city's social and cultural life, hosting festivals, concerts, civic celebrations and sporting activities that have left a deep mark on local collective memory.

The park has inspired numerous works of local art, including paintings and literary texts that attest to its cultural centrality. Among its most cherished elements are its tree-lined walks, traditional ceramic benches and the fauna that inhabits the green space in the heart of the city.

It is situated to the west of Castellón de la Plana's historic centre, next to the bullring and close to the railway station that in its day prompted its creation. With an extension that allows for a pedestrian route of approximately 1.1 km, it is today a green lung accessible to residents and visitors in the heart of the provincial capital.