The Akron History Center will open to the public in December 2024!
Thanks for visiting! Please return to this page for regular updates as we build out our new website, and release more details of the public opening.
The customized displays will tell the stories of Akron’s 200-year history, using the archival materials and relics preserved by our partners the Akron-Summit County Public Library, Summit County Historical Society, the University of Akron Archives, and the Lighter Than Air Society.
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What can you expect to see at the Akron History Center?
- Goodyear will host an interactive exhibit boasting of Akron’s historic role as a center for race tire production.
- The Akron Sound Museum has shared its collection of hundreds of artifacts documenting the city’s role in the Industrial Rock era of the 1980’s.
- The Summit County Historical Society will for the first time be able to exhibit 200-year-old artifacts that tell the story of General Simon Perkins and the contributions of the Perkins family over the city’s first century.
- Artifacts from many collections have been contributed by donors, including a gas mask for children licensed by Walt Disney during World War II (one of only 3 in the U.S.)
- Dr. Bob Smith’s office door from the Second National Building will be a touchstone for the thousands of AA adherents who visit Akron each June.
- A 1950’s working model of the landmark Airdock recalls Akron’s Lighter Than Air history, along with the Duralumin models used to design the USS Akron.
- GOJO’s history, starting with the first dispensers hand-tooled by founder Jerry Lippman will be shown along with the electronic Purell dispensers of today.
- Judith Resnik’s uniform patch from the maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Discovery. She was an engineer, part of the first group of NASA astronauts to include women.
- Pause at the wall of honor – eight flatscreens televising the life stories of champions from Akron who have achieved national and international recognition.
- Twenty Steps to Social Justice – the landmark events that have defined Akron as a place where we struggle – and often prevail – on issues of race, identity, and disability.
Located at: 172 South Main Street, Akron, OH 44308
