During the "Great Flood of 1993" many of the artifacts from our collection were lost due to the rapid rate of rising flood waters. The facility housing the collection was a total loss. The reconstruction of this facility was completed approximately two years later, but it was decided that it would better serve the Wing as a meeting room rather than a museum.

We still had many undamaged artifacts to display, and convinced the St. Charles County Highway Department to rent one of their construction trailers to us as an interim museum. This required extensive renovation of the interior, which was accomplished in the winter of 1996.

In the spring of 2004 the Wing Staff voted to invest in the expansion of the museum by renovating one of the smaller hangars that we rent from St. Charles County and moving all artifacts from the trailer. As a semester project in Museum Design, graduate students from Anthropology Department of the University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL) assisted us in the museum's preliminary design. At the conslusion of the project UMSL provided us with an extensive publication that covered every aspect of our proposed museum expansion. The final design, planning, and construction was accomplished by the Colonels of the Wing.

The museum was completed in July 2005 and is now open for visitors. It is a beautiful example of what can be accomplished with the will and dedication of a CAF Wing. If you are ever in the St. Louis / St. Charles area, please stop by and see us. We would love to escort you through and enjoy our new facility.