Tower of London comes to Louisville
By Jon Miller (c)

The Tower of London Royal Armoury Museum officially opened its North American Branch in the Frazier Historical Arms Museum in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday, May 22, 2004. In a gala premier Mr. Owsley Brown Frazier introduced a millennium of combined British and American history to Metro-Louisville.  Over eight hundred invited celebrity guests attended the black tie debut. 

"The Frazier" is a state of the art history museum emphasizing a collection of arms and armor dating from the Battle of Hastings up through the first World War. It presents exciting history.

The third floor of the 100,000 square foot museum houses the Tower of London Royal Armouries North American exhibit. It is the Tower of London on tour if you will.  The Frazier is unique in that it is the sole display of historic artifacts on long term loan from Tower of London.  Curators from the Tower of London came to Louisville and constructed the world class exhibits presenting history from original swords and mail armour worn by Medieval Knights up through the rifles used in the Charge of the Light Brigade and the Zulu Battle at Rourks Rift.

Exciting life-sized and extremely dramatic tableaus catch the imagination at every turn.  Continuous audio-visual displays show how mail armour was hand produced, how battles were won, and how an empire was established and lost.

The second floor is dedicated to American history.  It opens with the English armour and flint locks sent from the Tower to the American colonist. The Bartlett sword owned by Josiah Bartlett (a signer of the Declaration of Independence) is located here as is the rifle owned by George Washington.  There is an intact rifle making workshop from the 1800s including all its tools and several of the finished Kentucky long rifles on display.

Shelby County buffalo farmer Steve Wilson donated "Buffy" a huge stuffed bison to the Old West part of the museum.  Buffy stands between the Jesse James Gang-Pinkerton Agency and Geronimo-Little Big Horn exhibits.    

Teddy Roosevelt's Holland and Holland side by side rifle "The Big Stick" and displays of turn of the century sporting rifles complete the second floor displays.

The first floor houses a gallery of Mr. Frazier's personal collection "The Arms of Special Interest."  In the entry is a full scale Gatling gun. There are also artistically engraved rifles, pistols and knives on display.

The Frazier Museum is located at the corner of 9th and Main Streets in Louisville.  It is open from 11 AM to 6 PM Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 PM on Sundays.  Call (866)-886-7103 for admission prices and special group rates.

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