Our exhibits will honor the city’s Native-American, European, and Spanish influence, its cultural traditions, and festivities as it grew in the 20th century, and the current history its scholars, athletes, musicians, and artists are making. A space for receptions, parties, and other events is planned for the rear of the museum, in what currently is used for parking.

The museum, with an ideal downtown location, will appeal to all people in our community — school children, young and middle-age adults, senior residents — a museum that people of all ages will want to visit repeatedly. It will be a technology-rich museum, with multi-media presentations, interactive exhibits and history games, video screens, wireless access to recorded oral histories, access to video-recorded programs presented by the Pinole Historical Society.

Also planned is a lecture series (poets, historians, authors, judges, etc.), a pub crawl to some of the city’s historic bars with short history lectures at each stop, a special summer exhibit for children featuring trains, which played a prominent part in Pinole’s history, and a drop-in art studio.

Some planned exhibits will include:

• Multimedia and interactive exhibits in all rooms
• Guest lecturers (poets, historians, authors, etc.)
• Children’s theater in the fireplace room, including storytellers
• Women in Pinole’s history
• The immigrant experience
• Arts in Pinole (painting, crafts, theater, music, etc.)
• Pinole’s political history
• Pinole’s sports history
• Exhibits on area communities (El Sobrante, Hercules, Rodeo, Crockett, and other West County communities)
• Museum tours and programs for K-8 students
• Rock stars, rappers, and Broadway stars
• Special traveling exhibits
• Storytellers, particularly for children.
• Wine tastings with short programs/lectures and/or videos
• Narrated slide shows (documentaries with interviews using archival photos)
• Interactive exhibits and games, the latter designed for children and students.
• Museum tours and programs for K-8 students.
• California history (pre-Spanish to present.)
• Celebration of the Arts — Local artists' exhibits open to adult and student artists.
• Drop-in art studio
• Pinole during the Gold Rush
• 1823 El Pinole Grant and the area it covered (Pinole, Crockett, Hercules, Rodeo, Tormey, Oleum, Selby, Franklin Ridge)
• Ranches and farms in Pinole
• The Hercules and California Powder Works and their importance to our community
• Native American history (Ohlone, Huichin, Karquin; how they dressed, what they ate, where they lived — and what happened to them)
• Prominent Pinole families
• The great newspapers of Pinole
• Pinole’s business and economic history
• Public safety (police and fire) history
• Famous people from Pinole
• Pinole during World War II
• World War I and the California Powder Works
• Timeline mural of Pinole's history
• Genealogy classes taught by experienced instructors.