Jeff Hunt Museum Executive Director

Jeff Hunt
Executive Director

Our Vision:

Create an outstanding public facility and a world class museum with compelling and informative exhibits telling the story of the Texas Military Forces from 1823 to the present and into the future.

Create a world class archives and library

Properly house and care for our artifacts

Museum exhibit plan

Click on image to open a larger window to use as a reference while reading our Exhibit Plan.

Public Comment Invited:

Think BIG! We just don’t want to rearrange the deck chairs, but bring the museum forward into the 21st Century and make it everything it can be within the confines of space and money.

Keep in mind a few parameters as you read our draft plans and complete our (Acrobat Reader) Public Comment Form:

  1. Offices, restrooms, library and conference rooms will need to stay pretty much where they are.
  2. We will not be able to add on to the building, but must work within the space provided.
  3. Not all ideas will be feasible, but everything suggested will be considered when a final plan is put together.
  4. Always remember that the Texas Military Forces keeps making new history.

Whatever changes are made to the museum this time around will undoubtedly need to be altered at some future point; exhibits changing, expanding or contracting to add new story lines and new topics.

Above all keep in mind our mission statement:

“Tell the story of the Texas Military Forces from 1823 through the present and into the future, support the mission of the Texas Military Forces, honor our veterans, educate our fellow citizens, inspire esprit d’ corps among the men and women of the Texas Military Forces, and inspire our youth to serve.”

Anything that does not fall within that mission statement is beyond our scope.

Feel free to answer the questions on our (Acrobat Reader) Public Comment Form. Including your name and address is permissible but not required.

Thanks for your input and all you do to keep the museum going!

Jeff Hunt
Director

Museum Master Plan

As many of you know, big changes are coming to our museum. A master planning process is already underway to fix some of our old, persistent problems as well as modernize and update our exhibits. Big issues such as replacing the roof, installing a fire suppression system, remodeling the restrooms, creating a break room, improving our lighting and electrical system as well as extending climate control throughout the entire building are already on tap. Accomplishing these tasks will be phase I and II of the master plan.

Phase III will involve the exhibits and how we present them.

Facilities Plan

Phase I Facilities Renovation
Replace/Renovate Roof
Structural Integrity
Fire Suppression/Code and Safety
Electrical Upgrade
HVAC
Restroom/Break Room
$2,695,000

Phase II Facilities Renovation
Remove Northern Interior Walls
Construct Exhibit Space
Construct Museum Lobby
$150,000

Exhibit Plan

Phase III Exhibits and Displays
2,000 Square feet of New Exhibit
3 Primary Galleries
Chronological Exhibit
16 Macro Artifacts
16 Macro Environments
8 Dioramas
50+ Uniformed Mannequins
Design of New Exhibit
Preparation of New Exhibit
Installation of New Exhibit
$2,200,000

Basic Concept: Chronological, Time-line exhibit exploring the history of the Texas Military Forces from 1823 through the present, with provision for the future.

Gallery One
1823 to 1859
Birth of Texas Militia
Texas Revolution
Republic of Texas
Mexican-American War
Texas Rangers/Indian Fighting

Gallery Two
1860 to 1901
War Between the States
Reconstruction/Re-birth of TXMF
Texas Rangers/Indian Fighting
Evolution of TXMF
Spanish-American War
Philippine-American War

Gallery Three
1902 to Present
Creation of National Guard/Border Missions
World War I/Between the Wars
World War II
Cold War
State Missions
TAG
Overseas deployments/Peace Keeping
Global War on Terror

Main Entrance will bring visitors into the heart of the museum. To their left (south end of the building) will be the Great Hall in which will be displayed the operational historic military vehicles in the museum’s collection.   Arrayed around the Great Hall will be the museum’s library, archives, offices, restrooms, conference rooms and artifact storage facilities.  This entire area will be climate controlled.  A large retractable glass wall will seal off the entrance vestibule from the Great Hall.

Looking directly ahead from the vestibule, visitors will see an angled glass wall which is the entrance to the main museum exhibit.   Going through the doors in this glass wall they will enter the museum lobby and gift shop.  A modern “greeting station” will house volunteers/staff who will greet the visitor, attend the gift shop, answer questions and help visitors understand the traffic flow of the museum galleries.

The visitor will enter the time-line exhibit through a door connecting the lobby to the southwest portion of the exhibit. This area currently houses the World War I through War on Terror exhibit.  Once in this gallery the visitor will follow the time-line exhibit through the area currently housing the main gallery. In the new exhibit this area will deal with the 19th Century portion of the time line only.

After viewing exhibits on the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars the visitor will exit back into the lobby.  This will give them a chance to interact with the staff at the greeting station, visit the gift shop or go to the restroom.

From the lobby visitors will go into the 20th-21st Century through another set of doors that lead them into what is currently the north end of the building/great hall.  All current walls, save for the historic brick wall separating the current great hall from the museum wood shop, will be torn down to create one large space.  Winding their way through this gallery the visitor will eventually be led back to the main lobby where they can shop, ask questions or exit into the Great Hall.

DRAFT
Time-Line Exhibit Plan

Colony to Republic 1823 to 1836

The Republic

Annexation and War

Civil War

Reconstruction Era

Rebirth of State Military Forces

Spanish-American and Philippine American War

Guarding the Border / Creating the National Guard

World War I

Between the Wars

World War II

124th Muleteer display

WWII TXNG Medal of Honor panels

Post WWII through Cold War (may break down by decade)

Overseas Missions

War on Terror

Public Comment / Survey
(Requires Acrobat Reader)