PEORIA — It’s been over 10 years since Peoria officials began discussing the development of a riverfront museum.

After years of planning and building, the highly-anticipated $65 million, 80,000 square-foot museum is now open for business.

Located on a seven-acre block that borders Water Street, Main Street, Liberty Street and Washington Street in downtown Peoria, the Peoria Riverfront Museum officially opened Oct. 20. 
An estimated 2,500 people visited the museum Oct. 20-21, including 2,000 people on Oct. 20 and 500 people on Oct. 21.
Adjacent to the Peoria Riverfront Museum on the seven-acre block, the Caterpillar Visitors Center also opened on Oct. 20.
Caterpillar, Inc. employees and retirees were able to visit the $37 million, 50,000 square-foot Caterpillar Visitors Center before the public, on Oct. 19.
“Between Employee and Retiree Day on Oct. 19 and our grand opening on Oct. 20, we estimate around 4,000 people (visited the visitors center),” said Caterpillar, Inc. Spokesperson Bridget Young.
The most popular attraction of the Visitors Centers has been the Cat 797 Mining Truck, the world’s largest mining truck, said Young.
“The Cat 797 mining truck is very popular,” said Young. “Putting that size of a machine inside a building gives people an idea of just how big a truck the size of a two-story house is!”
Inside of the bed of the 797 is a 70-seat movie theater.
“The movie inside the 797 provides a window into the work of the customers Cat supports every day,” said Young.
Another popular attraction inside the Visitors Center is the Caterpillar Heritage Gallery that displays a gallery of antique tractors.
“The Heritage Gallery and the fully-restored Model Twenty Tractor within it has also been very popular,” said Young.
The Visitors Center also includes several interactive exhibits.
“There are 23 different exhibits,” said Caterpillar Visitor Center Manager Kathryn Spitznagle. “A lot are interactive.”
Caterpillar, Inc. plans to update existing exhibits and add new exhibits to the Visitors Center in the future.
“We will update the exhibits and add new interactive exhibits periodically to keep the Visitors Center relevant and exciting,” said Young.
While all of the displays are complete in the Caterpillar Visitors Center, about 15 percent of the displays in the Peoria Riverfront Museum are not yet finished.
“Right now we’re putting the finishing touches on the building,” said Peoria Riverfront Museum Vice President of Marketing and Communications Toni Tripp. “We do have some dispersed exhibits to install.
You see some of the empty cases as you walk through the hallway. Those will be finished fairly shortly. The Collections Gallery will be finished in early November. But other than that, it’s been pretty robust. We have everything pulled together.”
One of the most popular galleries in the museum has been the Illinois High School Association Peak Performance that allows visitors to participate in a simulation of several of the association’s sports and activities.
“I would say the IHSA Peak Performance gallery has been a real popular one,” said Tripp. “People are liking the opportunity to really do some hands-on activities. The IHSA Peak Performance is really about testing your athletic, academic and artist skills with physical, academic and music testing modules. Kids and adults are having a lot of fun with that, especially with reaction time. You see every age sitting there doing the reaction time tests and it’s been really fun to watch.”
Located next to IHSA Peak Performance are Discovery Worlds and Illinois River Encounter.
“Discovery Worlds are for the small kids with hands-on activities that encourage learning through play,” said Tripp. “The Illinois River Encounter is all about the Illinois River; the conservancy, the business, how the Illinois River has really influenced this area.”
Other galleries in the museum include The Street, Collections Gallery and CIAO (Central Illinois Arts Organization) and Friends Exhibition.
“We have The Street, which is an exploration of Peoria and Central Illinois’ history,” said Tripp. “The stories we tell in The Street gallery are really on innovation and a lot of amazing things that have happened here in Peoria. We have our Collections Gallery that we will actually showcase from our collection. We have 17,000 objects and specimens in the museum collection, so that’ what’s going in there. The CIAO and Friends Exhibition is an exhibition of select Tri-County artists. People like the fact that we’re showcasing local talent.”
The CIAO and Friends of Exhibition is the first of many art collections that will be displayed in the museum. It will be displayed through March 3, 2013, followed by the Ansel Adams: Western Exposure collection that includes over 100 original prints and related items from the collection of Michael and Jeanne Falk Adams, and will run from April 14, 2013 – Oct. 20, 2013.
While visiting the museum for the first time last week with Sandy Beelman of Peoria, Frank Benningfield of Peoria said he was looking forward to seeing what art collections the museum will bring to the city in the future.
“You’re going to have some very large collections that are going to be offered,” said Benningfield. “What a great opportunity this is for the city.”
The Illinois Riverfront Museum also includes a giant-screen theater that plays educational films.
“The giant-screen theater has been very popular,” said Tripp. “(Right now) we’re running National Geographic’s Sea Monsters and Rescue 3D.”
The Dome Planetarium, Peoria History Center, African American Wall of Fame and International Feature Gallery are other museum attractions.
Benningfield said he was “looking forward to the completion it.”
“This is just a taste of what’s to come,” said Benningfield. “It has to grow from where we’re at. I think this is a good start to it.”