General George Patton Museum to Reopen

Armchair General received the following media release from the General George Patton Museum and Center of Leadership, located at Fort Knox, Kentucky. ACG ran an article at the beginning of the museum’s transformation in 2011; click here to read that article, “General George Patton Museum of Leadership.”

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The General George Patton Museum and Center of Leadership is scheduled to reopen June 14 at 10 a.m. The Patton Museum used to be one of the most sought after tourism destinations in the state of Kentucky. However, because the BRAC 2005 decision mandated that the Armor School move to Fort Benning, most of the artifacts – including a large collection of armored vehicles – were moved to Fort Benning as well. Thankfully, the collection of Patton’s personal artifacts stayed behind.

Over the past three years the museum has undergone an extensive $5 million dollar renovation and now tells the story of Army Leadership – both bad and good – from 1775 to the present. The museum now features state-of-the-art exhibits that utilize augmented reality and web-based devices to completely immerse visitors in history. I’m told there is only one other museum in the world that’s using augmented reality like the Patton Museum and even then, it’s not used as extensively as it is here.

As it is the mission of all Army museums to train Soldiers, the Patton Museum’s primary mission is to train ROTC cadets – the future leaders of the Army – about leadership throughout the Army’s history, and it will do so in way it’s never been presented before.