Goodman-LeGrand Museum in Tyler brings WWI history home with ‘Tyler to the Trenches’

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - As our nation celebrates 250 years of Independence this year, the Goodman-Le Grand museum in Tyler brings history home with a powerful journey from ‘Tyler to the Trenches’.

The one of the kind exhibit honors The Tyler Company and the brave veterans who served and are still remembered.

“It’s souvenirs and memorabilia from men who were from Tyler and Smith County who fought in World War I,” says Debbie Isham, the Supervisor of the museum.

The collection is all owned by Chance Spencer who lives in Midland.

Isham says the exhibit is about more than just displaying artifacts, it’s about preserving Tyler’s history.

“They’re over 100 years old and we’re still looking at them,” says Isham. “Me as a curator, getting to actually touch the items and putting them in the cases, you take on a whole ‘nother dimension when you think about what they went through serving in a war.”

Some of the items include the infamous Underwood Typewriter.

“That chronicled so much of the information about the men in the Tyler Company,” says Isham. “Private Willie Barton used this typewriter.”

It also includes over 700 postcards collected by Captain Karl White.

“Back then you just didn’t really carry around a camera with a lot of film, so you collected postcards,” says Isham.

A photograph of all the men in Company C, the 133 Machine Gun Battalion was restored.

“This is a photograph of them in France all together,” says Isham.

Some of these veterans even held reunions in Tyler years after the war.

“The Goodman Museum was actually part of where they had their reunions in 47 and 48,” says Isham.

She adds that the whole exhibit gives visitors a chance to pause and reflect on the courage and resilience of that generation.

“I think the significance is just realizing what our country has gone through, through World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, all these all together, what our men and women have faced through the years and how important it is to understand their sacrifice,” says Isham.

The exhibit will run until March 7.

Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Donations are also welcomed to support the museum’s day-to-day operations.