Community Corner

Westlake Historical Society Celebrates Its Own History

The society is holding a 50th birthday party and looking to expand its numbers.

The Westlake Historical Society has been busy celebrating the city’s 200th birthday this year, but the group has an anniversary of its own to commemorate before the year is over.

On Oct. 22, the society will host a 50th  birthday party at the at . Members of the Westlake community past and present will gather at noon to ring an antique bell 200 times— once for each year in Westlake’s history.

Society President Lysa Stanton will ring the bell for the year 1961, the official founding year of the historical society before the cake is cut. The society is also changing its number to 440-808-1961 in honor of the founding year.

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“The thing I love about [the historical society] is that it’s not political; it’s not religious,” Stanton said. “Everybody has a history and everyone can learn more about their history.”

Member Mel Maurer started out as a guest speaker, and has gotten more involved during the last few years. Maurer, whom you might have seen portraying Leonard Porter over the last few months, helped organize a student poetry contest this year, manned admissions at the spring yard sale and still has a few talks to give. But he said Stanton and membership chair Dave Pfister deserve all the credit.

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“Lysa and Dave deserve any recognition that comes along. They do a great job,” he said. “I do pretty much anything they ask me to.”

The historical society not only maintains the and local artifacts, but also puts on Sunday programs, gives tours and educates the public about Westlake's history.

Stanton stressed that the society welcomes members of any age with any area of interest. Some members are students, some are retired, and some are in between. To attract more young people next year, the society is going to unveil a junior member program.

“We’re always looking for members,” Stanton said. “I think for a lot of people, they think that the historical society is something they’ll do when they retire, which is fine. We love that too! And some people think we already have enough people, but we’re very active. There are lots of things people can do.”

From cleaning to tending the herb garden to staffing events, there is always plenty of volunteer work. To find out more about how to get involved, visit the Westlake Historical Society website, email them, or give them a call at 440-808-1961.


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