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All the United States Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Military Museum
AO Edited

Pennsylvania Military Museum

A history of the U.S. military, with a focus on Pennsylvania's contributions.

Boalsburg, Pennsylvania

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slgwv
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M4A1(76)W Sherman tank. Nearly 50,000 Sherman tanks saw service in World War II and Korea. Accepted in 1944, this later version featured a larger gun and more secure ammunition storage.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M4A1(76)W Sherman tank. Nearly 50,000 Sherman tanks saw service in World War II and Korea. Accepted in 1944, this later version featured a larger gun and more secure ammunition storage.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
World War I re-enactors’ camp on the museum grounds.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Mural and diorama of a World War I trench and battlefield.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
The gallery of logistics vehicles.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M151A1 Military Utility Tactical Truck (MUTT). This was the main combat jeep from Vietnam until the development of the Humvee in the 1980s. Replacing the M38 series of jeeps from the 1950s, this model had excellent handling on rough terrain but was easy to flip on paved roads.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Bell from the battleship USS Pennsylvania.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
US 6 Ton Special Tractor Model 1917. This vehicle, copied from the French FT-17 Renault, was the first tank produced in the US. The US version was too late to serve in World War I but was used for training in the postwar years.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Mock-up of a World War I trench dugout.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Mortars. The nearest, and smallest, is a 4.2” chemical mortar that was later successfully used with high-explosive shells.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
14-inch naval projectile HC (High Capacity) Mk 19 Mod 1, dating from the early 20th century. This display is inert, containing neither explosive nor a timer. Fully loaded, the projectile weighs as much as a Formula One racer–1200 pounds.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
1940 Bantam Reconnaissance Car (BRC-40), the precursor of the Jeep. It was produced by American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M59 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC). Accepted 1953, but replaced by the M113 series in the 1960s because the M59 proved to be underpowered.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Ordnance QF, 4.5 inch Howitzer Mark II. This design was inspired by the German howitzers the British encountered in the Boer War (1899-1903). These two guns and their limber probably served with the Canadian Army.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M1841 6-pound Field Gun, adopted 1841. A smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon originally cast in bronze.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M42A1 “Duster” 40 mm self-propelled gun.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
The main museum building. The colorful designs are representations of various combat, unit, and service ribbons awarded by different branches of the US military.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
“King of Battle: Artillery.” Cannons ranging from the early 19th to the mid-20th century are displayed.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M1909 Studebaker ambulance wagon, the last of the horse-drawn ambulances. It remained in US Army inventory until 1930.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M37 Dodge 3/4 ton truck. Produced in the 1950s and 1960s, and used by Reserve and National Guard units into the 1980s.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Montague Paratrooper Tactical Mountain Bike. Developed for the Marines and US Army in 1997, the bike has little to no thermal or acoustic signature. It has not been deployed but is available to military personnel at a discount.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
14-inch naval guns from the battleship USS Pennsylvania. Damaged at Pearl Harbor, the ship saw service in the Pacific theater but was scuttled after the war due to its age and obsolescence.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M60A3 tank. First introduced in 1961, no tank performed longer than the M60 series, being finally phased out in 1997.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
M114A2 towed 155 mm Howitzer. Introduced in 1942, this gun remained in service in the National Guard into the 1980s.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
The Griffen Gun (foreground) was a cast-iron 6-pounder smoothbore cannon developed by John Griffen before the Civil War. The Gatling Gun (background) was an early machine-gun analog that served with the US Army from 1866-1904. Multiple parallel barrels rotating around a common axis led to high rates of fire.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Dodge Brothers’ 1918 Light Repair Truck. An early attempt by the US Army to replace animal with mechanized transport. It was used as a mobile repair station.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
General Motors K-16 Ambulance. One of the first motorized ambulances, this vehicle served alongside horse-drawn ambulances in World War I.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Military museums typically focus on a particular service, or conflict, or even just a weapons system. This museum has a different slant: it looks at the contributions to the various services made by Pennsylvania. The scale of the contributions should not be surprising, as Pennsylvania played a key part in the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century, and remained a heavy-industry powerhouse till well into the 20th—and an extensive industrial base is critical in modern war.

The museum's interior displays are organized around five core components: tactics, small arms, sea power, air power, and logistics. One display is of the first tank built in the United States, the M1917, a copy of the French FT-17 Renault. For World War I, the new U.S. Tank Corps trained at a camp in Gettysburg, established in 1917 and commanded by then-captain Dwight D. Eisenhower. A six-pounder Griffen Gun is also on display. It was manufactured by Safe Harbor Iron Works in Lancaster using a new manufacturing process for casting iron cannons. The process was patented by John Griffen, the superintendent. The Griffen Gun was a precursor to one of the most common field artillery pieces in the American Civil War.

The section on sea power includes the story of several ships named USS Pennsylvania. The first was a wooden ship-of-the-line that met an ignominious fate in 1861, when she was burned in place at Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia rather than be allowed to fall into the hands of the Confederates. The second USS Pennsylvania was an armored cruiser built in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. She was renamed USS Pittsburgh in 1912 to free the name for a battleship, the first of the U.S. super-dreadnought class, commissioned in 1916. (In the heyday of battleships, when they were the pinnacle of the fleet, U.S. battleships were named after states. This convention lasted into the first half of the 20th century.) Because she was oil-fired, a then-new technology, she didn't participate in European waters in World War I because all the infrastructure was set up for delivering coal. USS Pennsylvania was damaged at Pearl Harbor and served as an artillery platform in the Pacific theater, but was already largely obsolete. After the war, she was used as a target at Bikini Atoll. She didn't sink, but became so radioactive that she was later scuttled in deep water. Two of Pennsylvania's 14-inch guns were preserved and are displayed outside, while her bronze bell is displayed in the museum. The current USS Pennsylvania, commissioned in 1989, is a nuclear ballistic missile submarine, or "boomer."

Probably most unusual for a museum is the section on logistics. As the old saw has it, "amateurs talk about strategy; professionals talk about logistics," indicating that the subject does not generally have the glamor associated with weapons systems. Maybe exhibits such as this can help redress this imbalance. Among the items displayed is a precursor to the Jeep produced by American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania. Ambulances, including the last horse-drawn ambulance model employed by the US Army and the first motorized ambulance, both used in World War I, are also on exhibit.

Large vehicles are displayed outdoors, and re-enactors dressed and equipped as would participants from various conflicts often meet at the museum. Lastly, the museum has assembled resource packages for schools.

Related Tags

Museums And Collections Military Military History

Know Before You Go

The museum is easy to find, in Boalsburg just off US-322 near State College. Hours are limited, however; check the website. The website will also have news of special events.

 

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slgwv

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August 8, 2024

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Pennsylvania Military Museum
51 Boal Ave
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, 16827
United States
40.78184, -77.795357
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Nearby Places

Frost Entomological Museum

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miles away

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

United States

Places 417
Stories 28

Nearby Places

Frost Entomological Museum

State College, Pennsylvania

miles away

Willard Mural

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miles away

The Armsby Calorimeter

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

United States

Places 417
Stories 28

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