This summer, the Janesville Gazette visited the former First National Bank building at 100 W. Milwaukee St. and found welders building a towering steel climbing structure against blank white walls. Executive Director Kent Anderson called the nearly finished space "just a shoebox." The museum had first been slated to open around September. The Gazette later reported a target of late October or early November.
The Children's Museum of Rock County is built as a scale model of the place it sits in. The water table is the Rock River. The dam on it is a Janesville dam. The water-skiers are the Rock Aqua Jays, and the grocery store is a Woodman's. Kids who play in this building are playing with the city they live in, and most of what they handle has a real version they can go see.
Built From Farm Visits, Not A Catalog
The Gazette reported that the museum's designers came from Memphis, Tennessee. Instead of copying exhibits from larger children's museums around the country, they visited local farms and held community focus groups. They settled on three themes: the Rock River, innovative manufacturing and precision agriculture.
Those three themes shape the rest of the building, and each one comes with a local name attached.
The water table is 20 by 25 feet and modeled on the Rock River. It includes miniature versions of the Centerway Dam, the Rock Aqua Jays and local farmland. The farming exhibit uses a real tractor cab donated by Johnson Tractor. In a simulator, children "harvest" corn and soybeans, then follow the crops through grain processing and into a miniature Woodman's Market. That traces how produce in Rock County gets from the farm to the grocery store. Woodman's also donated store tile and other items to make the small version look like the real store.
The Miniature And The Real Thing
Most of the museum's exhibits have a real counterpart in Rock County. Here is how they match up.
| Inside the museum | What it models | Where the real one is |
|---|---|---|
| Miniature dam on the water table | Janesville's Centerway dam | The Rock River Trail dam list calls it the Janesville Central Dam and places it in the 00 block of Centerway |
| Miniature Rock Aqua Jays | The city's show ski team | Bank First Stadium at Traxler Park, where shows run on summer Wednesdays and Sundays |
| Tractor cab in the farm exhibit | Precision agriculture | A real cab, donated by Johnson Tractor |
| Miniature Woodman's Market | The end of the farm-to-store route | Built partly with store tile and other items donated by Woodman's |
| Sensory room | A quiet space for kids | The building's own former bank vault |
The Rock River Trail's list also includes a second Janesville dam, the Monterey Dam at 800 Center Ave. The museum chose the downtown one.
The Aqua Jays row is the one that has to wait until next year. According to the Rock Aqua Jays, shows run every Wednesday and Sunday from the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, and admission and parking are free. The team's 2026 schedule booklet listed the first regular show for Sunday, May 24, at 7 p.m., and the last for Sunday, September 6, at 6:30 p.m. Through the winter, the closest look at the team is the small version on the water table.
The last row of the table is the building itself. The sensory room is inside the old bank vault. The museum also sits on Milwaukee Street, which the City of Janesville names as the northern edge of Town Square. The Janesville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau lists Town Square at 65 S. River St., with a Rock River dock, pavilions, promenades and a pedestrian bridge. So the museum's version of the river sits on the same street that bounds the riverfront plaza built around the real one.
The Rest Of The Floor
Not every space models a local landmark. The museum's About page names four exhibit areas: the Inventor's Lab, the Great Outside Early Childhood Gallery, the Continuum Climb and the Precision Ag experience. The Gazette also lists:
- A nature-themed play area for toddlers
- STEM learning spaces
- Birthday party rooms
- Flexible exhibit space
- The two-story climbing structure the welders were building this summer
Even here, the themes carry through. The Inventor's Lab fits the manufacturing theme, and the Precision Ag experience is the farm-to-Woodman's route under its official name.
The museum plans to start with a small staff. The Gazette reported a five-person leadership team and plans to hire six to 10 part-time employees. "We want to start lean to be fiscally responsible," Anderson told the paper. "Safety's got to be the number one priority." The museum also has a liquor license, but alcohol will only be served at private events and adult-only fundraisers, never during regular hours when children are visiting.
Why It Took Almost Twenty Years
A building this local took a long time to fund. According to the Gazette, the project went through four stages:
- 2008: The museum project began, then stalled during the Great Recession.
- The 2010s: A traveling "Museum on Wheels" program kept community support going.
- The pandemic years: COVID-19 slowed progress again.
- 2022: Organizers launched a capital campaign that raised about $14.5 million for a permanent museum.
In January 2026, WMTV reported that construction was continuing and that the museum was expected to open in fall 2026. "It's been a long time in the making and I feel very fortunate that I'm able to help lead it through the finish line," Anderson told the Gazette.
What To Know Before The Doors Open
The museum's own site gives its opening timing as "late 2026." The opening day will be posted at kidsatplayrc.com. The homepage also says the museum can't host birthday parties in the building yet. Its events page lists a Janesville Jets game on October 30, which is this Friday.
Memberships are already on sale through the museum's membership page:
- Family Membership: $185 for one year
- Grandparent/Military Membership: $165 for one year
Benefits include unlimited admission for a year, 50% off admission at other ACM museums, and invitations to "member only events and any special hours." The museum's campaign page says it "will be open year-round, seven days a week with closure on selected holidays." Daily hours and single-visit admission prices haven't been posted yet.
The opening window overlaps with a busy few weeks downtown. The city's neighborhood trick-or-treat is Saturday, October 31, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., according to the City of Janesville. Downtown Janesville holds its Pink Friday kickoff on November 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a free trolley from noon to 5 p.m. The visitors bureau lists Shop the Rock for November 21 and 22 at Milwaukee and Main streets. That is the same Milwaukee Street the museum faces. A family coming downtown for the holiday open house could also walk past the building that has the river, the dam and the Aqua Jays in miniature.
When the museum opens, families will be able to follow the route from a Johnson Tractor cab to a small Woodman's Market inside an old bank on Milwaukee Street. If your family's routine around Rock County is changing and you'd like someone local to talk it through with, Kimberley Govert-Meris would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
