The beginnings of the City Reliquary date to 2002, when founder Dave Herman began displaying objects in the windows of his ground-floor Williamsburg apartment on the corner of Havemeyer and Grand Streets.

[1] Passersby were drawn to the quirky array of local artifacts, and Herman received object donations and loans from people who wanted to share their own "relics" with the greater New York community.

The new museum opened on April 1, 2006, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and proclamation reading by Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President from 2002 to 2013.

[5] Other items are simply everyday objects, including a set of antique dentures washed ashore at Dead Horse Bay, a "very old shovel", and neon signs discarded by restaurants.

Past displays have featured unicorn figurines, argyle socks, and a "chicken museum" organized by a six-year-old boy and his father.