{"nrhp_refnum":"80001419","name":"Joliet Municipal Airport","other_names":["Joliet Park District Airport Hangar Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4000 W. Jefferson St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Joliet","county":"Will County","state":"IL","lat":41.52324422300006,"lon":-88.17940948699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-12-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The terminal and hangar building of the Joliet Municipal Airport (also called the Joliet Park District Airport Hangar Building) at 4000 W. Jefferson Street, Joliet, Will County, Illinois. It is a brick and steel building of about 100' x 156', built in 1930.","why_significant":"It is presented as the first Park District-operated airport in Illinois and a forerunner of public airports in the state. The Park Board built it when other governmental bodies said they could not. The original 1930 hangar and administration building survives, which the nomination notes is uncommon among comparable late-1920s airports.","narrative":"Built in 1930, this hangar and administration building at the Joliet airport is a rectangular brick structure of roughly 100 by 156 feet, framed in steel. Its central hangar is clear-spanned by steel Pratt trusses and can hold a DC-3. Overhead doors at both ends allowed passengers to disembark inside the hangar and walk straight to the waiting area, an unusual feature for a small community airport. A three-story section once held a waiting room, dining room, kitchen and rooftop restaurant terraces. Chicago architects Youngberg, Brown and Youngberg drew the plans in June 1930. The Park Board built the airport after other governing bodies said they lacked the means, making it the first Park District-operated airport in Illinois. About 12,000 people attended the September 1930 opening. The interiors have been remodeled into offices, but the exterior is largely unchanged, and the building remains in use.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1930)","architect_builder":"Youngberg, Brown, and Youngberg","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use; the Park District administrative offices returned in 1979, the FAA keeps a transmitter there, and the Civil Air Patrol meets in the hangar building. Condition is given as good and altered, with the exterior largely unchanged.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.0527-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/8943/28894357/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/80001419.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001419/4f9e617de8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001419/4f9e617de8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Teemu08","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joliet_Municipal_Airport.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu08</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joliet_Municipal_Airport.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894357","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joliet_Regional_Airport","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2901208"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/will-county/joliet-municipal-airport-80001419/"}