Welcome to the Conneaut Lake Area Historical Society

Quilt Show Winner

We had 52 quilts displayed at our quilt show last month as part of the 25th anniversary.
Elaine Harrison of Conneaut Lake was winner of the People's Choice award. She was given a special ribbon and a cash prize.
Thanks to all who brought quilts and the more than 100 people who toured the museum during the show.
It was wonderful to see all the different types of quilts and the intricate sewing on all of them.
Prior to the show, the Quilts of Valor program awarded quilts to four veterans: Bob Eiler, Bob Moss, Jim Herchenroether and Joal Wolf in recognition and appreciation of their service.
Colleen Munn, head of the local chapter of the Quilts of Valor, served as mistress of ceremony and gave a history of the program prior to the quilts being awarded.
Thanks to the Quilts of Honor for all you do to recognize our veterans and for making the special trip to award them to our veterans.

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Elaine Harrison hold ribbon she received a long with a cash prize for the People's Choice award at the recent quilt show at the Conneaut Lake Area Historical Society's Museum as part of the society's 25th anniversary. Harrison and Chuck Groger, president of the historical society, who presented the award, stand in front of the quilt made in 1937.Collene Munn was runner-up for the People's Choice Award for one of her quilts -- the first Quilt of Valor she made.

Digitizing Program

We are now engaged in a program that will digitize all 46,000 of our artifacts.  It involves scanning each item onto a computer, which will preserve the item.  Currently, our system only tells what the item is.

Example: Picture of Hotel Conneaut.  By digitizing it, the actual picture of the hotel is captured.

We are excited about this program as it will preserve our history should some catastrophe occur.

To date, 19 books out of about 100 books have been scanned.

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In addition to those books from the research center, we also have obituaries and other published books to scan as well as the items in the museum. So you can see we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

If you are interested in helping, we would love to have you. This winter, we had three "pairs" of scanners, but summertime has meant many of those aren't available. Scanners work in teams of two -- at their own schedule.

If you would like to help, please contact Bob Hilton  814-382-4328 or Julia Catalano at 814-724-9841.

Crawford Gives

For those unable to do physical work for the society, there is another way to serve.

If you are able, you can make a monetary donation through Crawford Gives.

The program, operated by Crawford Heritage Foundation, receives donates during a four-day period.

This year it begins at 12 a.m. on Aug. 24 and ends at midnight Aug. 27.

During that time, you can go to the website: www.crawfordgives.com and donate, using a credit card.

Or you can send a check to Crawford Gives, P.O. Box 933, Meadville, Pa., 16335. Please mail it early enough that it is received by midnight Aug. 27.

Or you can take a donation to the foundation at 415 Chestnut St., Meadville.

Please note your donation is for the Conneaut Lake Area Historical Society.

Once all the receipts are totaled, the foundation adds a percentage of the donation to the total and we receive that "match" as well.

It's one way to help the society gain a little more money and the "match" is an "extra" for us.

Last year we received more than $7,000 from Crawford Gives with about 20 donors.

We would love to beat that total.

Please spread the word. You need not be a member to donate! 

And, we are a 501-C-3 so all your donations are tax-deductible! 

Thanks in advance.

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Century Buildings Program

One portion of the society's mission is to recognize homes and buildings that are more than 100 years old.
We have our inaugural program recognizing seven in the Conneaut Lake area.
We will honor the seven recipients and present bronze plaques which we will erect on their buildings.
The program is at 10 a.m. on Sept. 7 at the museum, 150 N. Third St., Conneaut Lake.
To be honored this year are: Ralston's Hardware, the Berry Basket Building, John and Pam Leasure's home on Fourth Street (former owned by Gail Fales), the home of Jim and Darlene Ross on Second Street, Conneaut Lake Town Hall on High Street, Lakeside Beauty Salon (the former Foust School) on the east side and Hotel Conneaut at Conneaut Lake Park on the west side.
During the ceremony posters featuring each facility will be displayed.
Please join us for this special event.
Plans are to honor a different group each year.
If you have a century-old home or building or know somebody who does and would like to be considered in 2025 please email Julia Catalano at: juliabeth1848@gmail.com.
Thanks in advance and hope to see you at the program!

Tiki Bar Night

The historical society will join the Tiki Bar at Conneaut Lake Park on Tuesday, Aug. 13, from 4 to 9 p.m. for its Charity Night, where a portion of the sales go to the historical society. We will have lots of pictures of the Beach Club as well as the original table and chairs from the Beach Club.

About 7 p.m. Jean Shanley will share a brief history of the Beach Club and then people will be given a chance to share their memories.

We will have food to buy as well as special raffles.

Oh, yes, and we will have special bar tenders: Joyce Minnis, Todd Miles, Sup Russ, Shelia Carmen, Michelle Miles and Amanda Coulter.

Please come and join the fun!

Invite our friends too.