Lake County History Center plans to open history pub, celebrate America 250
Published by: The News-Herald
By Bryson Durst
Original article found here
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series looking at what Lake County communities, agencies and school districts experienced in 2025 and what is facing them in 2026.
In her first full year on the job, Lake County History Center Director Lisa Lewins is working with staff and volunteers on big plans for the museum.
Lewins joined the museum as interim director in March and was later asked to stay on in the role. She also runs the Candoren Guest House in Painesville and is a professor in the business management department at Lakeland Community College.
She worked throughout 2025 to clean and organize the museum space. And when she toured the center after starting the job, she realized the extent of its basement space.
Museum leaders plan to use some of that basement space to open a history pub in 2026. They also plan to hold events celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary and create more community engagement opportunities in the coming year.
Lewins hopes to draw groups of visitors whom the museum may have missed in the past.
“They just have so much potential for this place,” she said. “I feel like we’ve kind of had the history buffs and we’ve had the kids, and a little bit of family stuff, but we’ve kind of missed that whole, like, 16 to 60.”
History pub
The pub’s planned opening date is in spring 2026, Lewins said.
“Our target is the 50 and under crowd, the people who want to come do like a history happy hour, a trivia night,” she said.
Museum program coordinator Mandy Spencer said that the pub will have a Prohibition-era speakeasy theme, along with a wraparound bar and possible stage area.
Spencer said the museum is also aiming to provide information about local bootleggers during the Prohibition era.
Lewins said that throughout the building’s long tenure as the county’s poor house, the basement space was a kitchen and work area. She is looking forward to making the space available as an education and entertainment space.
“This house just used to be full of people and full of life and full of energy, and I feel like we can do that again,” Lewins said. “Plus, we can make history fun. There’s nothing more fun than having a tall, cold beverage after work and doing a history trivia night and prizes.”
Lewins said that the pub will be tied to museum events, and Spencer added that she expects it to be open once or twice a week. Possible events they mentioned include music performances, poetry readings, comedy events or game gatherings.
Lewins also wants to offer the pub as a rental space.
National and local history
The center is also collaborating with regional partners to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026.
Lewins said that the center is working with officials in Lake County, along with planners from Geauga, Ashtabula and Trumbull counties.
“We’re also going to help each other promote each other’s events,” she said. “I feel like collaboration is the key right now.”
Lewins said that more information about anniversary events can be found on the America 250 – Lake County Ohio Facebook page. The history center will also post information on its Facebook page.
The museum will also work to develop more displays, she said. One idea is to turn the ladies parlor into a women’s suffrage-themed room.
“There’s a lot of history of women’s suffrage in Lake County,” Lewins said.
Telling a story
Jerry Jaffe has experience as a professor in Lake Erie College’s theater program, and he’s hoping to bring that interest in theater to the museum.
“A museum today is about storytelling, what stories are you trying to tell,” Jaffe said. “And that’s what I’m hoping I can help contribute here is clarify the storytelling.”
He compared a museum to environmental storytelling and said that staff could create “narrative beacons” that would guide visitors as they walk through the building.
For the women’s suffrage room, Jaffe said that he wants to highlight how the suffrage movement ties into both national history and Ohio history, and also highlight the people who had ties to the local area. He wants to have that display up by March or April.
He said the museum also has a lot of baseball artifacts from 100 years ago, and he wants to create a display from those materials.
“Theater is my main passion, but I’ve always been fascinated by how much like theater museums and tourist sites are, and so this is an opportunity to almost go from the theoretical to the practical,” Jaffe said.
More plans
Recent highlights that Lewins shared include the expansion of the museum’s homeschooling program and the installation of a new elevator.
Moving forward, she aims to make the approximately 150-year-old building more accessible. She said that the museum needs new steps on the parking lot side.
Lewins also wants to add heating, ventilation and air conditioning to the building’s infirmary wing, which is currently closed. She said the museum will request funding from the state capital budget, and Spencer said that wing could eventually house the museum’s offices.
Lewins also aims to attract more community members. She said the museum will put a garden space outside, plant plants from Lakeland’s greenhouse at the museum and start a 4-H club in collaboration with the college.
She added that a museum board member wants to create a scholarship program for high school students who volunteer there.
Lewins wants to eventually open the museum to overnight guests.
She described the museum as a “labor of love” with “volunteers who really love history.” The museum’s workers and volunteers are “excited” to open it up to more people.
“It’s one of those places that everybody drives by, it’s a really busy street, but no one bothers to step in and no one knows that we’re here,” Spencer said. “We’re an open museum, open during the day, so people can come in and see what’s going on.”
The museum is located at 415 Riverside Drive in Painesville Township. It announced on Facebook that the main building will be closed through the winter until it can thaw out in March.
“Programs will continue and staff will be available on Tuesdays 10-2 and by appointment in the Barber Event Barn,” the post said. “Leave us a message at 440-639-2945 or email info@lakehistory.org. Exciting things are happening and we cannot wait until spring!”