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Lake County Historical Society
Our History
The Lake County Historical Society has been in operation for 86 years as the curator for Lake County records and artifacts. We have grown from a chapter of the Western Reserve Historical Society, overseeing the President James A. Garfield home site to operating a historic village at Shadybrook in Kirtland Hills to its current location in Painesville Township on eight acres of land and over a dozen buildings.
Garfield Home
The Lake County Historical Society was founded in 1938 by Laurence H. Norton and a group of prominent Lake County citizens. Norton’s concept was to create a Lake County chapter of the Western Reserve Historical Society in order to care for the James A. Garfield presidential home site. The Society began collecting historical records and artifacts of Lake County while it operated the presidential home. By 1953, LCHS incorporated as its own entity and continued to operate the site until 1983 when the National Park Service took over operation.
Shadybrook
At that time, the Society moved its operation from Mentor to Kirtland Hills on to a site owned by the Holden Arboretum. The site was a former turn of the century summer home belonging to the Arthur D. Baldwin family called Shadybrook. During the next 25 years, the Society operated the Lake County History Center at Shadybrook, incorporating an historic village and making the Center the home of the popular Little Mountain Heritage Festival.
Lake County History Center - Today
In 2007, the Society worked with the Riverside Local School District, who had arranged a sale of 54 plus acres including the historic building, to the District from Painesville Township. The District owned the Home as part of a purchase of land from the County. The sale was completed and the Society owned its first home, a 30,000 square foot building and several out buildings on eight acres of land. Currently, the Society is in the process of refurbishing the building to create a Victorian showcase area, Education/Exhibit wing, Library/Research wing, office space, community meeting rooms, and reception hall.
The new Lake County History Center occupies a building constructed in 1876 by the Lake County Commissioners. The building replaced the former “Lake County Infirmary,” earlier known as the County Poor House that had occupied the property since 1852 when the County bought a farm house and 110 acres from the Pettingel family. Benjamin F. Morse was hired to design the new structure and Col. Arthur McAllister of Cleveland was named as builder. McAllister had built a reputation through construction of homes on Millionaires Row and the Soldiers and Sailors monument on Public Square in Cleveland.