Soldiers Memorial Military Museum is owned and operated by the City of St. Louis, Board of Public Service.

The initiative to construct a memorial plaza and memorial building to honor the gallant sons and daughters of Missouri, and of our city, who "made the supreme sacrifice in the World War", began in 1923. Over the course of several years, the City of St. Louis and its citizens raised money for the project. Under the leadership of Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann, and with some funds coming from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (Project No. 5098), the construction of the building, development of the memorial plaza, and improvements to the parks began on October 21, 1935 and the memorial and museum officially opened on Memorial Day, May 30, 1938.

"This magnificent edifice, erected as a perpetual reminder of the valor and sacrifice that has enabled America to live, will spur us on as a people to make America greater. We, who live, because others have died, should make of this shrine a place of love and a monument of peace."