The mission of the Brea Museum and Heritage Center is the preservation of Brea's rich history and to provide a place for education, research and community gatherings. To create a facility that encourages students and citizens alike to explore our roots as well as the events and people that helped mold Brea into the city it is today. To establish a center for inquiry, investigation and scholarly research.

• 1920 - The first Brea Post #181, American Legion building is built at the corner of Elm and Pomona Ave.

 

• 1928- American Legion #181 sells the property that is now City Hall Park to the City of Brea for $4,000 on the condition that they retain the "easterly 90 feet of said lot" for the purpose of constructing a new, more modern facility.

 

• 1929 - The official ground breaking of the new American Legion Building takes place, attended by local and state dignitaries.

 

• 1930 - After raising $8,000 from the community, Brea Post #181 contracts with Fullerton builder P.N. Schmoker to begin construction on the new facility.

 

• 1934 - Brea Post #181 transfers ownership to the City of Brea with the provision that it could be reclaimed at any time during the subsequent 10 years by paying the city one dollar.

 

• 1934 - 1994 - American Legion Post #181 continued to occupy the building in the following years in conjunction with the Brea Police Department. The building was vacated and left empty in the mid-1990s.

 

• 1984 - The American Legion Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

 

• 2001 - Don Schweitzer, grandson of city pioneer Frank Schweitzer, Sr., submits a proposal to the City of Brea to turn this historic building into a permanent home for the Brea Museum & Heritage Center.

 

• 2002 - Brea Museum & Heritage Committee Chairman Don Schweitzer and Brea Historical Society President Kathy Canon sign an agreement with the City of Brea that initiates planning and fundraising efforts to begin earthquake retrofitting for the American Legion Building.

 

• 2005 – Retrofitting is completed, and the City leases the building to the Brea Historical Society for a period of 50 years for the sum of one dollar a year.