VisitJoliet

Joliet is a city with so much to offer, for sport fans to history buffs, including historic museums, mansions, a minor league ball park, Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway and so much more. In addition to history and sports, Joliet offers Arts and Entertainment, and fine dining, as well as numerous lodging and camping amenities.

 

History of the City

 

Joliet is known as the city of Steel & Stone, due to its rich history with the I&M Canal Passage, now the Des Plaines River, that flows through the city and borders it’s downtown area. Mules pulled barges along the canal transporting limestone and other material from the city. Joliet’s limestone provided a great deal of industry to the region, hence the numerous limestone buildings and fine architecture the city has to offer. The building of the canal and the rich stone industry of Joliet brought a great deal of its first settlers. The steel industry is also a large part of the city, being the birth place of barbed wire.

 

The I&M Canal (Des Plaines River) proves to further shape the city’s history, providing it with three of only four design styles of bridges made in the world. The city has a vertical lift bridge at Black Road (center section lifting the railroad tracks vertically above the waterway), an elliptical arc bridge at McDonough St. and Bascule Trunnion bridges at Ruby St., Cass and Jefferson, opening in a uniform arc.

Joliet preserves its history through its fabulous state of the art historical museum, its numerous cultural heritage museums, and fine architecture, buildings and mansions.

 

Fast Facts

• Driving Distance from Chicago:
  45 miles
  About 50 minutes
  
  
• Major Interstate Access:
  I-80
  Rt. 30
  I-55
  I-355
  
  
• Transportation Options:
  
  Metra Train Lines
  Heritage Corridor and Rock Island District
  Weekdays 312/322-6777
  TTY 312/322-6774
  Evenings & Weekends 866-7000
  TTY 312/836-4949
  www.metrarail.com
  
  Pace Bus Service
  847/364-PACE
  www.pacebus.com

Industry Partners

 

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