Construction begins on long-awaited Army Museum

U.S. Army soldiers at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in 2014. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)

The United States Army is the only branch of the military without a national museum — but not for long.

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Construction of the National Museum of the United States Army begins this month in Fort Belvoir, Va., which is just south of Washington, D.C.

The $200 million museum is expected to welcome 750,000 visitors a year once it opens in 2019.

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The 186,000-square foot museum will tell the stories of the 30 million men and women who have worn the Army uniform from 1775 to the present, according to the Army Historical Foundation, or AHF. 

“We’ve just reached another important milestone in our timeline for building the National Museum of the United States Army,” Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz, AHF president, said. “There is no other museum in the Army Enterprise that tells the complete Army story and the Army’s wide-ranging contributions to our nation’s growth and development.”

Under a 2009 agreement with the Department of the Army, the AHF was designated the official fundraising arm for the museum, and launched the “Capital Campaign,” which was committed to raising $200 million to build the museum.

Top donors include Boeing, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. Each of the aerospace giants contributed more than $50,000.

“The vast majority of the Museum’s rare and priceless artifacts, artwork and images have never been seen by the American people,” read the AHF statement. “We look forward to the day when we open the Museum doors and share the Army’s storied 241-year history with the American public and the Army family.”