Slovenian Grocery Store Museum Ready For Joliet To See: Photos

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet Area Historical Museum is ready to open its first house museum, and Sunday's free event marks the first time that people can step inside the Emma Planinsek Grocery and Meat Market Museum, 1314 Elizabeth St.

Sunday's grand opening and free public tour coincides with the second annual Slovenian Grape Harvest Festival taking place across the street at the Rivals Park Picnic Ground, featuring polka bands, food and beer.

The Slovenian festival is from 1 to 8 p.m. and it's $7 to attend. Last year's festival drew 600 people.

Moving forward, the Planinsek house museum will be open Fridays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until around mid-December, when it closes for the winter, before reopening in the spring.

Admission to visit the museum will be $5 and children under 3 are free. The grocery store house museum also features a small gift shop offering Slovenian memorabilia.

The Planinsek's grocery store operated from 1926 until 1961. Emma Planinsek lived in the back of the property until 1990. Her husband, Martin, died in 1955.

"It was a corner grocery store. This is where everyone would come to get meats, dish soap and groceries," remarked Kailee Lowry of the Joliet historical museum staff.

Greg Peerbolte, executive director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum, said that this marks the third location operated by the museum staff.

The main location is the downtown museum on North Ottawa Street. The museum also runs the Old Joliet Prison, and the Planinsek grocery store marks their first house museum.

Patch asked Peerbolte what he's hoping guests take away from visiting the property.

"We hope that they will learn more about immigration in Joliet," he said. "We want people to feel nostalgic when they walk in, like they're walking into their grandmother's house."

Lowry said the museum is willing to arrange for pre-scheduled group guided tours as well as school field trips.

The Planinseks settled in Joliet after originally coming from Slovenia.

"It's about immigration, it's about the neighborhood grocery store as an anchor," Peerbolte explained. "This was an entity that serviced people that walked to work. I think that story of Joliet's neighborhoods, it was an institution, and it's one of those things you don't think to preserve, but it's immensely important."

Lowry said that visitors to the neighborhood grocery store museum will go on self-guided tours.

"I think it will definitely be of interest to Joliet natives," she said.

The property at the corner of Elizabeth and Russell streets was donated to the Joliet Area Historical Museum by Ken and Irene (Planinsek) Odorozzi.

"Ken and Irene are intending to set up an endowment vehicle," Peerbolte said.

Peerbolte said the Joliet museum staff is very thankful to the Odorizzis for their generous donation. He said the couple could have easily subdivided the former grocery store into several apartment units.

"There's certainly an appreciation in the community for these stories to be told," Peerbolte remarked. "It helps the neighborhood. It lifts up the neighborhood."

The opening of the grocery store museum, coupled with Joliet Prison tours and the downtown museum, gives Route 66 visitors another key reason to spend an entire day exploring Joliet, Peerbolte said.

"And we have programming in the works in partnership with the Slovenian community," the museum director explained. "So the community can expect this to be here a very long time."

To learn more about the Emma Planinsek Grocery and Meat Market Museum, 1314 Elizabeth St., visit the Joliet historical museum website.