Museums40.2610° N, 89.2308° W
Atlanta, IL
A museum dedicated to Muffler Men and other giant fiberglass advertising figures explains the history of these classic roadside colossi.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
Museums in Illinois
Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Museums21
Suggest a stopSmall, specific collections run by people who care far too much.
- Museums42.0346° N, 87.6798° W
Evanston, IL
Thousands of figural ceramic jugs fill a museum devoted almost entirely to Toby and character jugs, from historic examples to modern pop culture.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums42.2773° N, 89.0882° W
Rockford, IL
Home of Jane, one of the world's best-preserved juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex specimens, along with fossils and unusual regional natural-history collections.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums41.9172° N, 87.7123° W
Chicago, IL
A working button factory houses a free museum tracing more than a century of pin-back buttons, slogans, politics, advertising, and novelty design.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums41.0964° N, 88.4369° W
Dwight, IL
An independent collection celebrates 1980s cars, memorabilia, toys, and pop culture in a deliberately nostalgic specialty museum.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums42.4614° N, 89.0141° W
Roscoe, IL
An enormous private museum mixing celebrity vehicles, presidential artifacts, movie props, military displays, crime-history objects, and other eclectic Americana.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums40.8809° N, 88.6290° W
Pontiac, IL
A free museum packed with road signs, vehicles, memorabilia, photographs, and stories from the Illinois section of the Mother Road.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums41.9103° N, 87.6266° W
Chicago, IL
A mansion packed with antique surgical instruments, anatomical art, early medical equipment, and enough historical medicine to make this a natural OddWay stop.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums41.8848° N, 87.6278° W
Chicago, IL
A large collection of torture-device reconstructions and dark historical displays in downtown Chicago, presented as an immersive walk-through museum.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums40.8815° N, 88.6307° W
Pontiac, IL
A museum devoted to gold and silver leaf explains gilding tools and techniques and recreates a historic gold-beating workshop.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums39.6004° N, 89.6541° W
Glenarm, IL
A volunteer-run museum devoted to Chevrolet's rear-engine Corvair preserves cars, engines, prototypes, specialty vehicles, and technical displays on old Route 66.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums40.8798° N, 88.6299° W
Pontiac, IL
A specialty museum devoted entirely to Pontiac and Oakland automobiles, advertising, dealer materials, engines, and related brand history.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums37.9123° N, 89.8230° W
Chester, IL
The former opera house where young E. C. Segar worked now contains thousands of Popeye collectibles and one of the world's most concentrated Popeye displays.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums41.5178° N, 90.5404° W
Rock Island Arsenal, IL
One of the U.S. Army's oldest museums traces weapons, manufacturing, and the history of the active Rock Island Arsenal.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums40.2602° N, 89.2314° W
Atlanta, IL
A compact museum of vintage coin-operated amusements preserves old pinball machines, arcade games, mechanical devices, and roadside entertainment history.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums39.7130° N, 89.6474° W
Springfield, IL
A restaurant and museum complex crams vintage race cars, neon, pumps, signs, engines, and Route 66 artifacts into a former truck stop.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums42.1784° N, 87.9979° W
Long Grove, IL
More than 2,000 sock monkeys and related displays fill this specialty museum devoted to the humble red-heel folk toy.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums37.1512° N, 88.7320° W
Metropolis, IL
Tens of thousands of Superman collectibles, costumes, props, toys, comics, and memorabilia fill a museum directly beside the town's giant Superman statue.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums40.1434° N, 89.3825° W
Lincoln, IL
A restored 1929 roadside restaurant now operates as a museum interpreting Lincoln's local Route 66 history and the building's colorful past.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums42.3255° N, 88.8395° W
Poplar Grove, IL
A small airfield museum pairs vintage aircraft with antique cars, motorcycles, engines, uniforms, and regional aviation history.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Museums42.3269° N, 88.1714° W
Volo, IL
A sprawling collection of famous movie cars, bizarre customs, vintage machines, animatronics, military pieces, and oversized roadside-style displays.
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- Seasonal or ticketed