For the first time in its 36-year history, the Upper Arlington Historical Society will be headquartered where the public can learn more about it and the community's heritage.

Sept. 1, the UA Historical Society began its move from the third floor of Fire Station 71 at the Upper Arlington Mallway to the lower level of the Upper Arlington Library, 2800 Tremont Road.

The move, according to historical society President Charlie Groezinger, is being made primarily to give the organization a venue which will allow visitors to peruse its collections for the first time.

It also, he said, is expected to raise the historical society's profile in the community so more people can learn about Upper Arlington's history and, possibly, become involved with the historical society.

"Since the 1990s, we've been in the third floor of the fire station, so we don't have access a lot of times," Groezinger said.

"The public never has access unless they are escorted up there by one of us," he said.

"A good portion of the population of Upper Arlington probably doesn't even know we have a historical society," Groezinger said.

"We want people to know we're here, but we also want to make what we have accessible to the public."

While Groezinger said the society is grateful for the opportunity the city and fire department gave to it, he's excited about the relocation, which was spearheaded by former UA Library director Ann Moore, current director Chris Taylor, the library board of trustees and Sara Klein, a trustee of the historical society.

Because of their efforts, he said, the library has agreed to provide space for the historical society in the Ohio Room of the library, which is on the library's lower level in the reference area.

The library is providing the space at no cost, and it will be open to the public during regular library hours.

"(Library officials) said, 'Sure, come on over,' " Groezinger said.

"They thought it made perfect sense, he said.

"They're not charging us a penny for this. It's very generous of the library to do this."

Groezinger said he expects the relocation to be completed sometime in September.

Although there isn't sufficient space to display all of the organization's collection, there will be a variety of displays, and those likely will change periodically, based on community interest and different items the organization wishes to highlight.

Other portions of the historical society archives also will be available for public access, upon request.

"We want to get more people interested in the society, be it as members or volunteers," Groezinger said.

"We'd like to get more people to check us out and see if they would like to get involved."