  Location within Indiana | |
| Established | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Location | Vincennes, Indiana |
| Coordinates | 38°40′23″N87°32′17″W / 38.673°N 87.538°W |
| Type | Military museum |
| Founder | Jim R. Osborne |
| Website | www |
The Indiana Military Museum is a military museum located in Vincennes, Indiana.
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. [1] In the late 1960s, he started acquiring land vehicles as well. [2]
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. [3] [4] A pair of buildings slated for demolition were moved to the property and were the museum's first buildings. [5] The display space was further expanded in 1988 with the acquisition of a piece of a former Harold's grocery store. [6] The museum completed the restoration of an LVT-4 in 1991. [7] A major change came in the late 1990s, when the museum realized that it needed to focus on finding a new location. [8] A number of objects were loaned to the Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana for a temporary exhibit in 2000. [9] Shortly thereafter, the museum underwent extensive renovations supported by a grant from the Lilly Endowment. [5]
The museum purchased a site west of Vincennes close to the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, where it reopened on 31 May 2013. [10] It acquired A4D, F-16 and Lim-5R airplanes in 2015, a T-34 tank the following year and the sail of the submarine USS Indianapolis the year after that. [11] [12] [13] [14] The museum announced plans to complete a new 24,000 sq ft (2,200 m2) exhibit hall in 2018. [15] The expansion, reduced to 8,000 sq ft (740 m2), opened the following year. [16]
The museum is located on the 14-acre (0.057 km2) site of the former Blackford Window Glass Company factory. [8] [17] Plans made at the time of the site's purchase call for the construction of a 56,000 sq ft (5,200 m2) building. [18] The museum also has a library. [19]
Exhibits include a memorial for the USS Grayback that was moved from the Heslar Naval Armory. [19] Inside the museum, there are replicas of a 1940s home, the ruins of a French cathedral and a home front factory. [20]
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. [40] [41] [42] [43]
