The Virginia War Museum is located in Huntington Park on Warwick Blvd., Newport News, Virginia. The museum contains exhibits on American military history from 1775 to the present.

The Virginia War Museum was founded in 1923 by the Braxton-Perkins Post #25 of the American Legion as the American Legion Memorial Museum of Virginia. From 1923 to 1941, this "museum" existed as a "series of exhibits... housed and displayed in such public locations as were available," with no permanent structure or staff It did not begin to take its present shape until 1941, when the American Legion began leasing the present museum's original core structure from the City of Newport News. In 1948, the museum renamed itself to the War Memorial Museum of Virginia. That same year, the commission to the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia recommended that the museum be made a "memorial to those who served in World War II," so as to match the Carillon in Richmond that "was constructed as a State Memorial to those Virginians who served in World War I." At that time, there was also a large collection of exhibits from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA's predecessor NACA) at Langley Field was on display, with an estimated value of $40,000. This collection is long since gone, however, and is recorded only in some period photographs. It is likely that many are now present at the Virginia Air and Space Center, as this institution acts as the visitor center for both NASA Langley Research Center and Langley Air Force Base. By the 1950s, the City of Newport News had assumed administrative controls and the American Legion was reduced into an advisory role. In 1996, the museum was renamed once again to the Virginia War Museum.

The building has undergone three phases of construction. The original structure is visible as older brickwork, and was essentially a long, narrow building whose construction began in 1941 using $15,000 of State funds and $15,000 of city funds. By 1954, the shape of the museum had evolved from a line into a "T" with the completion of an addition (now the Early Wars, Poster, and African American gallery areas).The final addition was completed in 1987, in which the left side of the "T" was enclosed to form the Fowler and Weapons Galleries along with the current Education areas and restrooms.

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1244 Poquoson Ave Poquoson VA 23662

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