The Hayward Area Historical Society is planning to open a new center for history and culture this June.

The new museum will be located on 22380 Foothill Boulevard in Hayward. The new structure, which is more than eight times larger than the old museum, will be at the same location.

The museum will exhibit galleries of Hayward culture and the history of the city, a research room and archive, and a gallery for children, according to AT Stephens, interim executive director.

“It’s really a look at how the East Bay has changed over the last hundred years or so,” Stephans said. “How we’ve gone through an agricultural and farming community, how we’ve gone through a war time in the 1930s-40s, right up to the present that makes up the Hayward area such as Castro Valley, Fairview, San Lorenzo and Hayward itself.”

The main exhibit of the museum will focus on showcasing Hayward’s storied past; educating viewers on what the city was like in the 19th and 20th century.

“[It will show] communities that were here [and] the different people that settled in and around Hayward,” Stephens said. “There will be components in the exhibit that are either personal reminisces or interview of what life was like in the past in Hayward.”

The museum’s gallery for children will feature interactive activities, such as a writing station where kids can post a letter to people visiting the old Hayward hotel, said Stephens.

Students will be able to come to the museum’s research room and archive to study maps and references that document the history and culture of Hayward.

The museum will also feature a community gallery, which will be reserved for temporary exhibitions, parties, receptions, and school meetings.

“We want a place where people can come and plan their own exhibitions with their own community organization’s history,” Stephens said.

The HAHS is using money donations from the community of Hayward and a bequest from Alden Oliver Estate to fund the operation and the renovation of the building. The museum will charge admission to the museum, at $5 for adults and $40 for group visits.

Stephens predicts the museum, when it opens in June, will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be open until 7 p.m., two days out of the week. However, these details have not been finalized.

“I think that it will be a destination for folks in the East Bay to come and share [experiences] with others,” Stephens said. “We want people to be excited about what they see, to feel like they’re involved with the work that’s going on and that they have stories and skills they can make with others that will make the center a vital place in this community.”

The organization will hold a public ribbon cutting ceremony June 28, 2014 to celebrate the museum’s grand opening.