Indiana Military Museum


The Indiana Military Museum is a military museum located in Vincennes, Indiana.

History

Background

Jim R. Osborne began collecting surplus military equipment as a child after his neighbor gave him a collection of German equipment he had taken as war trophies. In the late 1960s, he started acquiring land vehicles as well.

Establishment

At the urging of friends, the Indiana Military Museum was founded by Osborne in 1982 and opened to the public in 1984 on Bruceville Road east of Vincennes. A pair of buildings slated for demolition were moved to the property and were the museum's first buildings. The display space was further expanded in 1988 with the acquisition of a piece of a former Harold's grocery store. The museum completed the restoration of an Landing Vehicle Tracked#LVT-4 [Water Buffalo, British designation Buffalo IV|LVT-4] in 1991. A major change came in the late 1990s, when the museum realized that it needed to focus on finding a new location. A number of objects were loaned to the Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana for a temporary exhibit in 2000. Shortly thereafter, the museum closed to undergo renovations supported by a grant from the Lilly Endowment.

Move

The museum purchased a site west of Vincennes close to the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, where it reopened on 31 May 2013. It acquired A4D, F-16 and Lim-5R airplanes in 2015, a T-34 tank the following year and the sail of the submarine the year after that. The museum announced plans to complete a new exhibit hall in 2018. The expansion, reduced to, opened the following year.

Facilities

The museum is located on the site of the former Blackford Window Glass Company factory. Plans made at the time of the site's purchase call for the construction of a building. The museum also has a library.

Exhibits

Exhibits include a memorial for the that was moved from the Heslar Naval Armory. Inside the museum, there are replicas of a 1940s home, the ruins of a French cathedral and a home front factory.

Collection

Aircraft

The museum holds a number of events in the spring and summer, including a reenactments of Civil War, World War I, World War II and Vietnam War battles.