Westerville History Museum

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Westerville History Museum Deepening understanding of Westerville, its place in the world, & unique role in Prohibition history. Located inside the Westerville Public Library.

The Westerville History Center & Museum provides access to the past through historical collections and learning experiences that deepen our understanding of our community and its place in the world

Westerville’s Underground Railroad activities and anti-alcohol efforts shaped the course of American history and gave the community a unique legacy.

On Tuesday, November 3, uncover your local roots and family stories with tools available through the Westerville History...
10/21/2026

On Tuesday, November 3, uncover your local roots and family stories with tools available through the Westerville History Museum and Westerville Public Library's Innovation Lab. Learn how to navigate historical records, photographs, and documents to support your genealogical research and deepen your understanding of community heritage. Whether you are just beginning your genealogy journey or looking to preserve generations of research, this 2-part program will equip you with the resources and skills to connect past and present.

Please note: this program requires registration. Sign up here: https://westervillelibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/6a42db1e41251a9e77c6f0b6

This is the grave of Joseph Lincoln, a Black resident who worked as Otterbein Cemetery’s gravedigger. Otterbein Cemetery...
10/20/2026

This is the grave of Joseph Lincoln, a Black resident who worked as Otterbein Cemetery’s gravedigger. Otterbein Cemetery Association record books show that he was digging graves or perhaps doing grounds maintenance as early as September 1872, when he was paid $15.75.

In March 1879, Lincoln was officially hired on as janitor. His job was “to visit the grounds once a day, during the occupancy of the vault and see that all is right and is to dig all the graves ordered by the association and to fill up the graves and level them up after they have sunken.” He was paid $3 for each adult grave and $2 for every child’s grave that he dug.

When he died 1883, he was laid to rest next to his family members in the cemetery that he had tended to for so long.

10/16/2026

We have been hopping with scavenger hunters today but still have plenty of prizes left! Available through October as supplies last.

10/15/2026

The museum will be closing at 5:30 today due to staffing availability, but we will be open our regular hours tomorrow. We hope you have a wonderful evening!

One of the first people in Westerville to use photography to promote their business was David H. Budd. He was known as a...
10/15/2026

One of the first people in Westerville to use photography to promote their business was David H. Budd. He was known as an “eccentric” and a good-natured “schemer” who was admired for his creativity and business acumen. By 1883, he was running what he called “The D.H. Budd Infirmary” – a buggy hospital. He would bargain with farmers for their old wagons, fix them up, and resell them. To advertise, he’d have pictures taken of the wagons he had fixed up and displayed them in the post office and stores around town. He went from selling one or two wagons a week to as many as six a day.

Pictured: Another one of Budd’s creative endeavors, a cornet band, pictured outside his shop around the 1880s

For many years, William S. Clymer’s grave in Otterbein Cemetery was not marked by any stone. Clymer is perhaps best reme...
10/13/2026

For many years, William S. Clymer’s grave in Otterbein Cemetery was not marked by any stone.

Clymer is perhaps best remembered as the owner the Clymer House, the building that was bombed in 1879 when local businessman Henry Corbin tried to run a saloon out of it. But Clymer made other important contributions to the community. He petitioned for Westerville’s incorporation in the 1850s, helped oversee the village’s first election in 1858, and was on the board of directors for the Westerville District Agricultural Society. He died in 1892.

It is curious that such a prominent member of Westerville society never had a headstone erected for him, especially since there was a specific provision in his will for it, and his executor appears to have ordered a stone. Time eventually obscured the memory of his final resting place, and there were conflicting theories about which cemetery he was even buried in.

Over 100 years later, a family descendant doing genealogy discovered Clymer’s obituary in the Public Opinion. After consulting city record books, they were able to pinpoint the exact lot that Clymer owned. In 2004, the family installed a headstone, fulfilling one of Clymer’s dying wishes.

On Tuesday evening, learn about the evolution of photography from black and white film developed in darkrooms to the pow...
10/09/2026

On Tuesday evening, learn about the evolution of photography from black and white film developed in darkrooms to the powerful digital cameras in each of our pockets today with Gary Gardiner , former Associated Press photo editor and current publisher of The Westerville News and My Final Photo. More program information: https://westervillelibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/6a4402af3e90252f86b64b63

Some of Gary’s photography equipment and press credentials are on display in our current exhibit “Public Opinion: Beyond the Headlines in Westerville.” While the museum will not be open during this program, you can drop by to see them during the museum’s open hours: 9am-6pm Monday – Saturday (closed 1-2pm on Saturdays for lunch).

Teachers, are you looking for resources to use with your students for this November? We have a Museum in a Box that yo...
10/08/2026

Teachers, are you looking for resources to use with your students for this November? We have a Museum in a Box that you can borrow and use in your classroom! It contains photographs, primary source documents, artifact reproductions, books, and artwork that highlight Delaware, Miami, Seneca-Cayuga, Shawnee, and Wyandotte history and culture.

The box is designed to align with Ohio's 5th grade social studies learning standards on history, geography, and economics, but any teachers or homeschooling families in the Westerville school district are welcome to reserve it. For details on how to reserve, visit https://westervillelibrary.org/museum-box/

This box was developed in consultation with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, with additional permissions and guidance from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma.

Come to the museum for some time travel… Back to the Future! From the flux capacitor to a hoverboard, spot the Back to t...
10/07/2026

Come to the museum for some time travel… Back to the Future! From the flux capacitor to a hoverboard, spot the Back to the Future "easter eggs" hidden within the museum's exhibit now until October 31. Find them all to earn a prize (as supplies last)!

For more information on the Westerville Public Library's Wizards & Wands Festival, visit https://westervillelibrary.org/wizards/

is back! This month, we’ll explore the dark, spooky, or mysterious lives and deaths of people buried in Westerville’s ...
10/06/2026

is back! This month, we’ll explore the dark, spooky, or mysterious lives and deaths of people buried in Westerville’s cemeteries.

Elizabeth Cashner was buried on a gray, frigid day in January 1893. The temperature never made it out of single digits, and the skies dumped half a foot of snow on the cold, hard ground. Despite the weather, Rev. Munk gave a memorial service at the Evangelical church for the hardy souls who came to honor the widow’s life – a life that appears in only fleeting mentions in the historical record.

About a week later, the Public Opinion reported that grave robbers had attempted to dig up the grave of Elizabeth Cashner. It described, “It was found they had dug down nearly to the casket, but from indications took a hasty departure.” Perhaps the body snatchers were, like many grave robbers of that era, medical students seeking human remains for study. But in trying to make her body disappear, they ensured that her memory – or at least the memory of her death – would live on.

Address

126 S State St
Westerville, OH
43081

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm
2pm - 6pm

Telephone

+16148827277

Website

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