JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- When the building housing the Fort Lewis Army Museum was finished in 1919, its telephones and hot and cold running water made it state of the art.
Now, it is state of the art once again.
After being closed two years for renovations, the Lewis Army Museum celebrated its limited reopening with a ribbon cutting ceremony Feb. 21.
"This is a work in progress," Joint Base Lewis-McChord Commander Col. Thomas Brittain said at the ceremony. "But we wanted to showcase the work that's taken place on all three floors."
The building opened as the Red Shield Inn in the early days of Camp Lewis, as part of a recreational area for Soldiers and their Families known as Greene Park. It served as a hotel or guesthouse until 1973, when it became the only certified U.S. Army museum on the West Coast.
The reopening marks the end of the building's most extensive renovation since it was built, coming to a grand total of $9.6 million. It now has a new elevator, opening the second floor to expanded gallery space, a new alarm system, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning system that will help maintain the museum's artifacts.
The once derelict third floor has been completely overhauled and now provides high-tech classroom space to the Individual Training Branch and the Foreign Language Training Center, helping solve a shortage of training facilities on base.
"We actually now have a state of the art building, even though it still looks old," museum director Myles Grant said.
The main floor of the museum was restored to resemble the original hotel lobby as closely as possible. The gift shop area is an exact replica of the hotel's first front desk, and even the original floorboards were considered in choosing the decor. Several second-floor rooms are in the process of being restored to their 1919 and 1953 appearances, so visitors will see firsthand the building's history.
For now, only a few galleries are open on the main floor. But the museum staff will continue to move exhibits in during the coming months, hoping for a grand opening in late summer or early fall.
Until then, the building will continue to serve as a link to histories both personal and public.
"You'd be surprised how many memories come back to you," museum board member Harry Schreiber said.
Schreiber, a retired sergeant major, volunteers at the museum once a week and loves hearing the stories of the people who come to visit. They make him remember his own.
He immigrated to the United States from Germany in the 1950s and was drafted right away. Schreiber ended up serving in the Army for 30 years. He was stationed all over the world, including Germany. Now he takes pleasure in looking back.
So does Brittain, who remembers being stationed at what was then Fort Lewis as a new lieutenant. But he knows that his own history is not the only one that's important.
"We can't go forward in what we do to train our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines without talking about history," he said.
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