Westerville History Museum

06/19/2026

We're remembering this poignant story today as we reflect on Juneteenth and the holiday's significance for the United States' experiment in freedom, democracy, and equal rights, which began 250 years ago and continues today.

As we commemorate Juneteenth today, we remember the story of Mary King, whose enslavers concealed her legally free status from her. In some ways, her story mirrors the experiences of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, nearly two decades later, who were denied their freedom until the day that became known as Juneteenth.

When Thomas King, Mary's enslaver, died in 1846, his will manumitted Mary - but his executor and son Benjamin King didn't tell Mary that in the eyes of the law, she was free. Benjamin kept Mary in bo***ge for ten more months - until after she had given birth to another child so Benjamin could claim that child as his property.

Once the court finally enforced Mary’s freedom, she stayed and worked in Greenup County, Kentucky, where she had been enslaved, so she could buy her family's freedom. The emancipation deed ended up in the hands of Mary's grandson, Henry Wheatley Jr. Wheatley grew up and lived much of his adult life here in Westerville.

Henry donated Mary’s emancipation deed to the Hanby House, where he had lived in the early 1900s when it was still a residence and boardinghouse. Today the Ohio History Connection holds the original deed.

Pictured: a copy of Mary King's emancipation deed, dated 1847

06/17/2026

Join us on the lawn of Hanby Elementary at Fourth Friday next week to help us kick off the America250 Westerville Mural Project!

The murals honor the people, places, and perspectives that have shaped Westerville and highlight both well-known and under-told chapters of the city’s history.

More information about the murals available here: https://www.visitwesterville.org/250-2/

06/10/2026

✨ Till All Success Be Nobleness | World Premiere Performance ✨

This spring, the Westerville Symphony proudly presented the world premiere of "Till All Success Be Nobleness" by Jennifer Bernard Merkowitz, as part of our America 250 celebration.

Inspired by Westerville's unique role in the Temperance Movement and the complicated legacy of Prohibition, this powerful new work reflects on our community's place in American history while exploring the enduring ideals that continue to shape our nation today. Drawing upon the melody of America the Beautiful, the piece weaves together echoes of Temperance hymns, immigrant drinking songs, the sounds of Westerville's historic printing presses, and the spirit of the Jazz Age.

We are thrilled to share this performance with our community and beyond.

Special thanks to composer Jennifer Bernard Merkowitz, Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson, and the musicians of the Westerville Symphony for bringing this extraordinary work to life.

We are also deeply grateful to our partners and supporters who helped make this project possible, including The Westerville Fund, the Johnstone Fund for New Music, the Westerville History Museum, the Westerville Historical Society, and Otterbein University Department of Music.

Thank you for helping us celebrate Westerville's story through music. 🇺🇸

06/10/2026

06/05/2026

It's ! Here is Calvin "Cap" Schneider working in Schneider's Bakery in 1954.

06/02/2026

In the 1800s, Westerville was a notoriously swampy town, but it underwent major improvements in the late 1800s and early 1900s, bricking and paving streets, installing sidewalks and electric lights, and maintaining water and sewer systems.

These changes coincided with the City Beautiful movement that swept across America in the 1890s and early 1900s. City Beautiful’s proponents believed that urban cleanup and beautification of poor neighborhoods would also promote morality and civic virtue.

In Westerville, these improvements helped entice the United Brethren church from moving Otterbein to Dayton, where the university would have had access to more students and resources. And by 1909, the year the Anti-Saloon League selected Westerville as the location for its national headquarters, Westerville was being advertised as a “model town.” This deliberately cultivated image fit perfectly with the Anti-Saloon League’s vision for clean, moral living.

Pictured: a clean, shady Grove Street, taken before 1908

05/28/2026

This photograph of an Otterbein student standing in the middle of the interurban tracks with his trench coat and homemade sign makes us chuckle! The caption explains, “Huber - Acting as Traffic Cop at Corner of College Ave. and State St. from 1 to 4 P.M. Varsity 'O' Initiation. 1916.”

05/27/2026

Mary Lou Prouty, Westerville’s first female mayor, a 20-year City Council member and a forceful advocate for preserving the city’s historic character, died May 21. https://thewvlnews.com/c6r

05/07/2026

This Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re rewatching this video that was featured in the “Welcome to the Table” exhibit several years ago. After living in Japan, the Henderson family operated a Japanese-style tea house at the corner of Plum and State from the 1960s through the early 2000s. To gain some insight into how tea ceremonies work and their importance to Japanese culture, we talked to Dr. Yuko Eguchi Wright, who holds an assistant professor title from the Urasenke School of Japanese tea ceremony.

3 likes. "The Way of Tea"

01/16/2026

Join us next Friday night (1/23) to learn the backstory about the Anti-Saloon League collection and how it became the Westerville History Museum!

Topics will include:

🟢How did the Westerville Public Library come to hold the nation's largest prohibition collection?
🟢Did this archive really almost leave Ohio, and how did it end up staying?
🟢Where has it been for the past 50 years and what's happening with it now?
🟢What's in the collection?

Then view items that haven't been onsite since 1974, when they were packed up for transfer to Ohio History Connection.

Please note: This event is hosted in partnership with the Westerville Historical Society. Doors will close when the program begins. Other library services will not be available during the program.

Event details: https://westervillelibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/68d1ba22c798579c2e913296