{"id":930888,"date":"2026-07-13T00:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T00:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/930888\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T00:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T00:21:21","slug":"joliet-centrals-steelmen-statue-begins-journey-to-new-home-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/930888\/","title":{"rendered":"Joliet Central\u2019s Steelmen statue begins journey to new home \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

The historic Steelmen statue at Joliet Central<\/a> High School<\/a> has been temporarily relocated and will undergo restoration as part of the ongoing T&I Building Link construction project that broke ground in January 2025.<\/p>\n

The white-bronze figure, which has stood as the spiritual heart of Joliet Central since 1935, was carefully disassembled and moved on June 25 to a secure project space within the Pathways Building.<\/p>\n

It will undergo a comprehensive restoration before being installed in its new permanent home within the Link, a major addition connecting buildings on the historic campus at 201 E. Jefferson St.<\/p>\n

\"Joliet<\/p>\n

Joliet Township High School District 204 has announced that its historic Steelmen statue at Joliet Central High School has been temporarily relocated and will undergo restoration as part of the ongoing T&I Building Link construction project that broke ground in January 2025. (Photo provided by Joliet Township High School District 204)<\/p>\n

The statue will remain secured in the Pathways Building until restoration begins after the upcoming holiday. Local artist Dante DiBartolo will lead the effort with the Joliet<\/a> Central team to ensure the statue\u2019s careful handling throughout the process. <\/p>\n

DiBartolo has an established record of community<\/a>-focused artistic work, having previously completed murals at Joliet Township High School<\/a> District 204 <\/a>Student Central and the Transition Center, as well as numerous other mural and statue restoration projects for the city of Joliet. <\/p>\n

In a fitting coincidence, DiBartolo was also the model used for the ROTC mural located on the teacher\u2019s lot wall across from the school on Jefferson Street.<\/p>\n

\"Joliet<\/p>\n

Joliet Township High School District 204 has announced that its historic Steelmen statue at Joliet Central High School has been temporarily relocated and will undergo restoration as part of the ongoing T&I Building Link construction project that broke ground in January 2025. (Photo provided by Joliet High School District 204)<\/p>\n

Sculpted by Louise Lentz Woodruff, a former Joliet Township High School student, the work was created for the 1933-34 Chicago World\u2019s Fair, \u201cA Century of Progress,\u201d where it was displayed in front of the Hall of Science representing \u201cScience Advancing Mankind.\u201d <\/p>\n

The statue arrived at Joliet Central in 1935, accompanied by eight bas-relief panels representing the sciences of astronomy, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematics, medicine, physics and zoology.<\/p>\n

Before the statue\u2019s arrival, Joliet Central\u2019s athletic teams were known as \u201cThe Prison City Boys.\u201d The Steelmen name has endured for more than 90 years, becoming one of the most recognizable symbols in Illinois high school athletics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The historic Steelmen statue at Joliet Central High School has been temporarily relocated and will undergo restoration as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":930889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,9886,1033,171,472,6390,375352,375351,11645,62,67,132,68,17075],"class_list":["post-930888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-construction","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-history","tag-joliet","tag-joliet-central-high-school","tag-joliet-township-high-school-district-204","tag-school","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-will-county"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116909815045084263","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=930888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}