DOWAGIAC — Getting away from the heat Thursday afternoon, Joan Lyons stands inside of the air conditioned Heddon Museum in Dowagiac when she starts talking about the history of James Heddon.

“He was a beekeeper, and believe it or not, it developed an allergy to the smell of bees in front of his nose,” she said, gesturing toward a glass display case that told Heddon’s history. “So, he had to do something else. … He eventually started experimenting with fishing lures, and here we are.”

Joan, along with husband Mayor Don Lyons, has owned the Heddon Museum, located in the former Heddon manufacturing facilities since 1996 and has been preserving the history of former Dowagiac based fishing lure company — at one time, one of the largest manufacturing of fishing lures in the county — James Heddon and Sons, Co., ever since.

Now, the couple wants to take things a step further and will be giving the museum a makeover. The Lyons will be remodeling the display cases to include more history of the company and the items and lures that are on display.

Joan said that she and Don have always been preserving the history of the Heddon Museum, and that they have always tried to be knowledgeable about that history and make it accessible to visitors.

“When we started, we knew nothing,” she said. “When we opened, we expected local people to come through. Instead, we got collectors who asked questions and expected us to answer them. … Don said we weren’t meeting our market and we needed to get educated. So, we joined the largest fishing and tackle club around. We sat down and went through all the catalogs we find and learned about the lures.”

Since then, Joan said she and her husband have remained diligent in working to provide the best historical experience for visitors to the museum. The couple visited other museums to see what they were doing to engage visitors and see whether those techniques could work at the Heddon Museum. It was that way that the Lyons decided to makeover the Heddon Museum and add new display cases.

“One day, about two years ago, Don came home and said, ‘We aren’t doing it right. We need to change the museum,’” Joan recalled. “We decided we needed to make this a museum that, rather than just being a place of artifacts and cool things to look at, we need to tell the story of those artifacts, so [Don] set about to design new cases.”

Currently, six of the at least 100 planned cases are in place at the museum. The display cases are text heavy and tell a detailed history of James Heddon and his sons. As Joan and Don are the only two workers on the project, Joan said it could take upwards of two years to complete.

Additionally, Don has been writing a book about the history of Heddon, which will be used to supplement the information in the museum.

“It should be going to the publisher in the fall,” Don said, holding the thick manuscript in his hands.

“We wanted to have real information rather than just the legends that have been passed down,” Joan added.

Joan said that though the project has been a big undertaking, she is excited about it and hopes that it will be appreciated by visitors to the museum.

“Inch by inch, this place will go around and be filled with new cases,” she said. “We wanted to preserve the history of this place, so that is what we are doing.”