The Museum's Story

In the winter of 1967-68 at the height of the Vietnam War, a museum dedicated to the citizen-soldiers of the Commonwealth was being constructed in Boalsburg, Centre County. Situated on the grounds of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 28th Infantry Division Shrine, this construction project was the culmination of a 48-year journey. 

The location of the Shrine and the future museum was part of the Theodore Davis Boal estate. Boal, a prominent citizen and wealthy landowner of the Centre Region, established a privately-funded machine gun company for service with the Pennsylvania National Guard in World War I. At a reunion on his estate after the war’s end in 1919, Boal dedicated a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the unit. This simple ceremony held by the men of the Society of the 28th Division American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) established what is today the 28th Infantry Division National Shrine. 

That same year, Boal reputedly shipped back from war-torn France battlefield relics intended for future display in a museum to be located on his property. Members of the Society Officers’ Club erected on Boal’s land also displayed their relics, weapons, and souvenirs brought back from the Great War.  

In 1931, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the site. It remained an active military cavalry post within the Department of Military Affairs. The Society A.E.F. still held reunions each year on the grounds and new monuments continued to be erected and dedicated in the Shrine. By 1936, the needs of the U.S. Army and Pennsylvania National Guard dictated that the post was no longer viable, and the machine gun troop disbanded in May of that year.  

The Society Officers’ Club remained active, holding yearly reunions, and expanding the Shrine. However, by April 1938, persistent economic depression, and the deaths of the “old guard” of officers from World War I forced the dissolution of the Officers’ Club.  Theodore Davis Boal himself passed away that year at the age of 71. Though the presence of the club on the property was no more, the Society continued to exist as a fraternal veteran’s organization with posts throughout the state.  

Discussions regarding the construction of a military museum at the site of the Officers’ Club had been recorded in the Society’s convention meetings throughout the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, however, the Depression and World War Two postponed any serious efforts to secure state funding for the project. It was not until the late 1950s that the political climate at the state capitol was favorable to the idea.  Society of the 28th Division A.E.F. Director William A. Miller, Major General Henry K. Fluck, commander of the 28th Infantry Division, and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), S.K. Stevens, joined together to advance an agenda that included the goal of constructing a museum at the site of the Shrine. On July 8, 1957, custody of the Shrine and surrounding grounds were transferred to the PHMC. 

Construction of the museum began in the fall of 1967. The structure was situated on a hill overlooking the parade grounds of the Shrine. The building, designed by Heyl-Treby Associates of Allentown, was intended to convey the impression of a defensive military position.  Completed at a cost of $252,695 the museum officially opened to the public on Sunday, May 25, 1969. 

The museum’s exhibits retained the WWI focus then exemplified by the 28th Division Shrine. Included in this first interpretation of Pennsylvania’s military history was a reproduction of an 80 ft. section of WWI trench complete with dugouts, bunkers, barbed wire, and vehicles.  This “environmental exhibit”, as it was called at that time, was billed as one of the first in the country and offered visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in a life-size diorama complete with battle sounds.  

Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the museum told the story of our nation’s conflicts through the eyes of the citizen-soldiers of the Pennsylvania National Guard. Thousands of school children and adults toured the “trench”, viewed the exhibits, and attended special events. A museum advocacy support group, The Friends of the Pennsylvania Military Museum, was organized in 1991, and the interpretive theme of the service veteran was renewed to include all service branches and more current conflicts up to and including Desert Storm.  

In 1995, the Shrine area around the World War One Officers Memory Wall underwent restoration and was expanded to include a new memorial wall listing all known division casualties sustained during World War II. The addition of the World War II wall firmly placed the interpretive emphasis of the Shrine Complex within the 20th century. 

In 2003, the museum began a full renovation, expanding its space and upgrading the building for the 21st century. One of the more striking changes is the museum’s front façade, known as the "Wall of Honor." By the end of 2005, the museum featured a new interior/exterior structure design, new interior/exterior exhibits, a re-designed landscape terrain, a new pedestrian bridge and renovated access roadway/walking paths offering a better physical connection from the parking lot to the museum and Shrine.  

Today, the museum continues making strides to better tell the story of the Commonwealth citizen-soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine in the 20th and 21st centuries.