In 1905, the original Wayne County Historical Society was housed in downtown Wooster on the second floor of the old Carnegie Library which was started in 1904. In 1954, the Carnegie Library was razed, and a group of community leaders and the College of Wooster moved the Society to its current location. The Beall House was the only building on the current site in 1954. Subsequently, we moved five buildings from other sites and built two buildings. From 1954-2018, 80% of the WCHS collection was in storage or in Vaults. We were so fortunate that, as buildings were added to the campus, basements were included. After a tunnel was installed to fully connect the basements, we developed the basement area into the Permanent Collection (PC), which permitted us to unpack and display our collection. The PC is totally accessible to persons with disabilities and has a public restroom accessible to persons with disabilities. The general areas are listed below:
- Agriculture Room: Contains early farm equipment, tools and the iconic McDonald Clover Huller.
- 1904 Room: Depicts a replica of the original 1904 Room from the old Carnegie Library.
- Art Gallery: Features changing exhibits of art from the society’s collection.
- Flag Area: Depicts an early flag and banner as well as the iconic Civil War guidon.
- Tunnel: Includes early household collectibles as well as pottery, toys, hand painted wooden vignettes, & china from past Wooster Companies.
- Multipurpose Room: Contains Military, Fabric, Collectible, Communication and Industrial Revolution historic collections.
- Picture and Portrait Gallery: Features early artists including Michael Nachtrieb.
- Bird and Animal Section: Features B & A from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and later Wayne County Taxidermists.
