Illinois Rock & Roll Museum in Joliet bouncing back from July storm damage

The storm that shut down the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 didn’t keep it down for long.

The museum in downtown Joliet is open again and doing business as usual, as much as it can with a big hole in its roof, a section of its front facade torn off and Gigantar – the huge guitar sculpture that made the museum stand out on Cass Street – gone for minor repairs.

“The great part is that we’re coming back strong,” museum Executive Director Ron Romero said.

The comeback was bolstered this week by what is described as a major donation from the band REO Speedwagon and another that followed from the band Styx.

Both bands are represented in exhibits inside the museum.

A band of about 15 local volunteers, however, made it possible to get back into the museum quicker than Romero had expected. The museum artifacts were moved out the day of the storm to avoid possible water damage. The first-floor exhibit area and souvenir store had to be put back into place to reopen.

Adler Roofing and ServPro did quick work drying out the museum and keeping it dry, with a temporary membrane covering a hole in the roof until final repairs are made, Romero said.

I consider what we’re in now as a soft-opening time. We’re open, but we’re not advertising.”

—  Ron Romero, executive director of the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum

Although the museum is open again, the front facade damage won’t be repaired until the spring, Romero said. It’s a complicated fix, requiring either Italian terra cotta or a reasonable facsimile.

“We have to either replace it and get it from Italy or somewhere, or they have a concrete mixture. It replicates terra cotta,” Romero said.

Damage to Gigantar was discovered after it initially was believed that the guitar sculpture was untouched. But Romano said it amounts to a couple of scratches and a bent tuning peg. Gigantar has been taken down for repairs and because it needed to be removed for work on the facade.

Insurance is covering the building repairs, but Romero said the museum needs to be open to generate revenue for its mortgage, utilities and payroll.

Attracting visitors

Even before the July 14 storm, the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 has been a long work in progress.

Romero first announced plans for the museum in 2017. It opened late last year.

Exhibits are on display, but some cabinets on the first floor and the under-construction state of the second floor, which eventually will be the main exhibit space, shows there’s still much work to be done.

“I consider what we’re in now as a soft-opening time,” Romero said. “We’re open, but we’re not advertising.”

Still, Romero said, the museum gets an average of 100 visitors a day. It is open every day but Sunday.

Many of the visitors are tourists who stop in because the museum is the Joliet location where they can get a Route 66 passport stamped for discounts and souvenirs as they travel the historic highway.

Others are like the Dwyers from Romeoville, who were at the museum Thursday.

Danny and Brenda Dwyer stopped into the museum for the first time with their granddaughter Kailey Dwyer of Bolingbrook.

The Dwyers are local, but they also are Route 66 travelers. Over the years, they have traveled the entire route from Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier in California. The Joliet museum is another stop on the tour.

“We were trying to come a couple of times. This is the first time we made it,” Danny said. “This museum is part of the Route 66 attractions.”

“It looks nice. It’s colorful,” Brenda said when asked about her impression of the museum. “I see they still have stuff to do, but it’s a start.”

It’s because “they still have stuff to do” that the museum has not had a grand opening or launched a marketing campaign to bring people in.

“The only negative review that we ever get is that we’re not quite open,” Romero said. “But even then, they say they liked what they’ve seen.”

Romero vows that the museum will be ready for 2026, which is the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and a year that Joliet and other towns along the path of the highway expect to see a surge in travelers.

It’s also the 250th anniversary year for the U.S., Romero noted.

“We want everything done by 2026,” he said. “We want to be ready for tourist business in 2026.”