Joliet museum named Illinois Museum of the Year

The Joliet Area Historical Museum was recently awarded Museum of the Year and given other honors recognizing its expansion beyond the museum building.

The Illinois Association of Museums (IAM) presented the honors at its annual awards ceremony on April 3.

The Museum of the Year honor was an Award of Distinction, the “highest honor” that IAM bestows, according to a news release about the honors.

“It just tells us that we’re doing our job. We’re doing the right things, and we have a great team.”

—  Greg Peerbolte, CEO of Joliet Area Historical Museum

The award particularly recognized the expansion of activities beyond the walls of the museum in downtown Joliet.

“Joliet Area Historical Museum is an institution with a vision beyond one exhibit gallery, or even one building,” according to a quote from the IAM Awards Committee. “In the past few years they have become integral in the culture and the landscape of Joliet, from restoring and interpreting the Old Prison, to showcasing the immigrant experience with the Planinsek Grocery Museum, and highlighting transportation technology with the new Railroad Museum.”

The museum in the last several years has managed tours and events at the former Joliet Correctional Center, which Joliet leases from the state.

The museum in 2023 opened opened the Planinsek Grocery Museum, which depicts a mid-20th Century Slovenian neighborhood grocery at the location where the store did business.

In 2024, the museum opened the Joliet Railroad Museum, which depicts the city’s railroad history in the former Union Depot Tower that housed the old railroad switching station and was preserved when the city built the Gateway Center that now serves as the hub for public transportation in Joliet.

“I think it underscores that Joliet values its heritage,” museum Chief Executive Officer Greg Peerbolte said of the museum expansion and the IAM awards. “It just tells us that we’re doing our job. We’re doing the right things, and we have a great team.”

In addition to the Museum of the Year Award, the Joliet museum received awards for:

• Superior Achievement in Innovation recognizing the museum’s role in preserving the Gemini Giant statue, a Route 66 landmark in Wilmington

• New Museum for opening the Joliet Railroad Museum in a switching room preserved by the city of Joliet when the new Gateway

• A Volunteer Award for two museum volunteers, Robert Navarro and Rick Swolley

The museum used grant funding to acquire the Gemini Giant when it was put up for auction, creating the possibility that an out-of-town buyer would move the landmark out of Wilmington.

“From preserving icons on Route 66, to sharing our industrial and immigrant heritage, through the intentional interpretation of the complex history of the Old Joliet Prison, JAHM (Joliet Area Historical Museum) is dedicated to being a thoughtful and leading storyteller for our region,” museum board Chairman Quinn Adamowski said in the release.