To quote founding member I.C.G. Campbell, “It all began as a dream in the minds of two members of the Library Board as they came out of board meeting in 1962.” 

When Miss Clara Fate Died in 1965 her estate went to her only surviving nephew, Colonel Robert Fate and it became possible for a small group of citizens to purchase the property.  With this small group putting up most of the money, and with a loan from the bank, three lots and two buildings, the Fate house and the Doctor’s Office were purchased with the intent of restoring and preserving these buildings and creating a local museum to house something of our rapidly vanishing heritage from destruction.  For many decades the property had been known as the “Fate House” but since it had been built originally as a Congregational parsonage, the committee wished to find a name that would express the intent of those who sought its preservation.  As the result of a community-wide competition the name “Heritage House” was selected. On June 9, 1969, the Heritage House Museum was incorporated.  In 1970, the Kunkel Building was added to the property.  In the early 1990s Bill & Doris Duff purchased the old IOOF building on Eldora Avenue and later donated it to be used as the Memory Lane Museum, which opened in 1993.