From Roots to Revival: Our Museum Story 1976-2026

By Curt Brown

General Joseph Votel (Ret.) speaking at the new building dedication and groundbreaking in September 2023.

The year was 1976. As Americans commemorated the nation’s bicentennial, computer giants Apple and Microsoft launched, the first NASA space shuttle Enterprise was unveiled, and a Georgia peanut farmer and former submariner named Jimmy Carter won the White House.

That same year, seeds were planted in central Minnesota that would take nearly five decades to fully germinate. Among Minnesota’s bicentennial projects, a new Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum was established behind the gates of Camp Ripley—an active Minnesota National Guard training center tucked between Little Falls and Brainerd.

The museum began collecting the artifacts and stories that define the state’s military history—from the first Civil War troops pledged to preserve the Union to Minnesota naval reservists who fired the first American shots in World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“Minnesotans have been on the front lines of history since the Civil War,” said Randal Dietrich, the museum’s executive director. “Veterans have entrusted artifacts to us, and we’ve tried to be good stewards of the stories those artifacts represent.”

For nearly 50 years, the museum’s archives, displays, and library were housed in several nondescript buildings within the Camp Ripley security perimeter. It remained largely hidden from public view.

Until now.

Just outside the Camp Ripley gates, finishing touches are underway on a newly expanded $32 million Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum, scheduled to open in summer 2026. The new 40,000-square-foot facility will amplify the stories of service and sacrifice that punctuate Minnesota’s military legacy.

In an era of tight government budgets and pandemic-related delays, the museum’s expansion in Morrison County represents a rare modern success story. So just how did this sprawling museum expansion begin to blossom?

In Progress: The new 32-acre museum site. The future main entrance. (facing east)

The SSN-708 tower and rudder in the foreground and the future 40,000 square foot museum in the distance. (facing north)

“To gather the stories and insights at our special museum up at Camp Ripley demanded greater resources,” said Mark Ritchie, Minnesota’s former Secretary of State (2007–2015) and board president of the nonprofit that manages the museum.

Before caretakers of the state’s military past began lobbying for state funds, they received a generous gift in 2019. A Little Falls area landowner and military veteran named Bob Anderson donated 32 acres adjacent to Camp Ripley, the site where museum expansion would grow.

“Rather than going to legislators to first ask for money to buy land and then to design and build, Bob Anderson’s land donation was crucial,” Dietrich said.

From the start, museum leaders were committed to keeping the facility near Camp Ripley, despite its distance from the Twin Cities metro area. “The connection with Camp Ripley is key to our long-term viability,” Dietrich emphasized.

The pandemic disrupted face-to-face advocacy with lawmakers, and supply chain issues drove up construction costs. Still, with persistent support from veterans and allies, the museum secured $32 million in state funding across two bonding bills—first $13 million, then $19 million.

A campaign to raise an additional $10 million in private contributions is more than halfway to its goal, aiming to support classroom spaces and interactive galleries that immerse visitors in moments like Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941) and 9/11.

For longtime board member Paul Monteen, the decision to move the museum outside the Camp Ripley gates was a game-changer: “That was the key behind the whole concept of this new building.”

Previously, around 12,000 visitors annually navigated Camp Ripley’s security procedures to view exhibits spread across various buildings.

When the new museum opens in late summer 2026, all exhibits, collections, and archives will be under one roof—easily accessible from State Highway 371. Historic vehicles will be displayed inside and out, including a restored WWII training glider, a Stuart tank used in the Philippines, and components from the Cold War-era submarine USS Minneapolis–Saint Paul, appearing to surface from the museum grounds.

Russ Mulholland retired as a lead mechanic in the Army and National Guard after welding armor plates to fortify Humvees in Iraq in 2006 and serving as a motor sergeant in Kuwait in 2010. He likes to bring his children to the museum every summer, proud to show off the tank he helped restore — identical to the one his uncle from Brainerd, Henry Peck, served on in the Philippines during World War II.

“I explain to my kids that these artifacts aren’t just decorations,” Mulholland said. “They were used by real people—many of whom died in or around these vehicles.”

Retired Lt. Col. James Mosser, a Gulf War veteran, recalls visiting the museum at Camp Ripley as a kid with his father — “growing taller” as he saw the tanks and historic photos. “It’s so exciting,” he said. “To me, visiting Camp Ripley is like coming home.”

Dietrich said mobilizing an ever-growing team of veterans such as Mulholland and Mosser has been “the driving force” behind the new expansion— from lobbying for public dollars to restoring a WWII glider and tank. Dozens of veterans will serve as docents when the new facility opens.

“The most rewarding thing is to connect artifacts with veterans and their stories,” said Doug Thompson, the museum’s curator. “You can hold a helmet, touch a uniform—and those items speak to you because they’re telling a story.”

A veteran story might be represented by a captured Japanese flag, a Civil War-era uniform, or the official documents of Gen. John W. Vessey, Jr.—a Minnesotan who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan.

“The stories told inside these museum walls will teach and inspire,” said retired Gen. Joe Votel at the museum’s 2023 groundbreaking ceremony.

The construction contract was awarded to Breitbach Construction of Elrosa, Minn., about 70 miles from Camp Ripley.

“Our entire team knows how important our veterans’ service and sacrifice are and everybody involved in the construction has expressed their excitement about the opportunity to work on a project with this much significance,” said the firm’s president, Ryan Breitbach. “To be able to honor these veterans is great.”

Dietrich added that the expanded library will include a lending collection, with books returnable at any public library.

“Our museum is as much about the future as it is the past,” Dietrich said. “We aim to inform and inspire young people through the stories of Minnesotans who served with distinction.”