The first meeting of LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. was held on May 19, 2001. A group of local citizens, who were both interested in local history and concerned about how that history should be preserved, began to formulate the idea of creating a museum in LeRoy.
The Open Hand Grange #153, which had merged with the Beach Flats Grange #336 in 1999, was for sale. Because of its condition, it was evident that it would possibly be lost forever.
This newly formed group, which became a sub-organization of the LeRoy Community Association, Inc., went to work raising the funds that would be needed to purchase the property. On July 18, 2001, this task had been completed, and work began on raising the funding and making plans to renovate and restore the old building.
The museum began collecting artifacts, furniture, memorabilia, written records, genealogy, photographs, and much more, to be included in the future museum. In many cases, the museum has stepped in and saved local artifacts from being lost forever. Many people have donated items for the museum. The museum provides a place to store and display these important items for the future, thereby allowing many years of interpretation and study of LeRoy history.
The building houses an exhibit room, research library, gift shop and museum office. Funding has been provided by the Pennsylvania Heritage Parks Program (through the Endless Mountains Heritage Region), the Community Development Block Grant program (through the Bradford County Commissioners), the Allen F. Pierce Foundation, the Rodney & Vicki Mott Family Foundation and the many patrons of LeRoy Heritage Museum, both locally and from across the United States.
Museum members acquired an old 10-seat outhouse on June 4, 2005 that would become part of the museums collection. The outhouse was originally built for the Holcomb Hotel that existed in LeRoy from 1851 to 1894.
On July 5, 2005, LeRoy Heritage Museum was incorporated and became LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. At that time, ownership of the building officially passed from the LeRoy Community Association to the LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc.
The museum now has members in 11 different states across the nation and continues to preserve LeRoy Township and Barclay Mountain history for future generations.
Lorelei Colton Charles Brackman Robert Storch Thomas Carl Joe Chaapel Ted Tomlinson Ann Carl Jason Krise Marie O'Hara Matthew Carl Donna Stone Dona Beers
"Preserving Our Past to Ensure Our Future." These words are found on all of our advertising, and you may wonder just what that means.
The answer begins in a common statement that is often heard, "The past is the key to the future." In order to understand what the best decisions for the future are, one need only look at past decisions to see how they shaped past events.
A problem occurs however, in a small community such as LeRoy, when after several years, many of the older residents of the community are no longer with us. Historical information - enough to fill several books - is often lost with these long time community members. This limits the opportunity to understand and interpret the past.
When new people move into town, they don't know the interesting stories and events that occurred, and as such, they probably won't have the same hometown community feeling that our ancestors did.
The solution?
LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc.
A local museum such as LHM is the link that connects the present with the past. The work of the museum is important in making sure that the past is not forgotten, which in turn helps to preserve the small town community feeling. The final result of this work is that LeRoy continues to exist as more than just a group of houses that happen to have been built next to each other. Long time residents and new residents will both share the same community pride that our ancestors had.
When you support the work of LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc., you are helping to preserve our past in order to ensure our future.
which had merged with the Beach Flats Grange #336 in 1999, was for sale. Because of its condition, it was evident that it would possibly be lost forever. 
