Joliet Arsenal Tour
By Joliet Visitors Bureau
07/23/2008
Experience a day tour of Joliet that will forever remain in you groups heart. From the artistry of the Jacob Mansion to the Arsenal, full of deep history and information your group will enjoy.
Contact Information:
t: view phone 1-877-4-JOLIET
e: view email jbrooks@jolietcity.org
w: view URL http://www.visitjoliet.org
- “Route 66 Welcome Center” & Joliet Area Historical Museum
- Lunch at the Jacob Henry Mansion
- Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie
- Joliet Arsenal & Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery
- Step-On Guide
Tour Dates:
Number of Days: 1
The first stop of the day will be the “Route 66 Welcome Center” at the Joliet Area Historical Museum. The state-of-the-art museum features interactive exhibits that will walk you through many years of Joliet’s rich history. You will receive a guided tour of the museum before heading off to lunch.
Enjoy lunch at the Jacob Henry Mansion, a National Historic Landmark, built in 1873. Relax as a personalized meal is placed before you in one of the 40 rooms that feature old world fixtures and Victorian charm. You will marvel at the craftsmanship and warmth of this historic home. Each delicious entrée is prepared right in the mansion. Tour the mansion while listening to the classic tale that brings this old home to life.
As you continue your journey along Route 66, your guide will share her many stories about this historic highway as you travel past both the Route 66 Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway to the Joliet Arsenal.
Today, 19,000-acres of the former arsenal are the largest piece of protected open space in northeastern Illinois and the first national tallgrass prairie in the United States is known as the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
When the Joliet Arsenal was developed by the U.S. Army in the early 1940s as a manufacturing plant for munitions, the 26,500-acre site provided munitions critical throughout World War II as well as the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Today, the Arsenal has been subdivided into areas to include the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, Joliet Arsenal Development Authority, and U.S. Fifth Army Training Center.
Tour the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, the second largest national cemetery in the nation behind Arlington in Washington, DC. Named in honor of Abraham Lincoln, this national cemetery and the State of Illinois have special connections to our 16th President. Lincoln is remembered for his successful law practice and elected service as a resident of Illinois. In the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln’s signature enacted a law authorizing the establishment of national cemeteries “…for the soldiers who shall die in the service of the country.”
Return with the step-on guide to the Jacob Henry Mansion.
