Experience Caterpillar

The Caterpillar Visitors Center is a fascinating look at the company, the iron and the people making sustainable progress possible around the world. From the humble beginnings of the first tractor to the company's present-day leadership in building infrastructure and powering the planet—it's all right here on Peoria's beautiful riverfront.

Experience Caterpillar at your own pace. On this self-guided journey you'll find interactive displays and exhibits sure to engage and entertain visitors of all ages.

Immerse yourself
Your experience begins with a video in the bed of a massive two-story Cat^® 797 truck as you take a virtual ride into a customer's mine site down a haul road.

Unleash your inner engineer and design your very own Cat machine. Hop onto a simulator and see first-hand what it's like to operate equipment the way real-life operators do.

Marvel at the sheer massive volume of the rugged Cat machines. Delight in the customer-driven design and innovation that has made Caterpillar a world-leading manufacturer.

Spend an hour or an afternoon. It's all up to you.

Reflect on the past
Caterpillar enjoys a strong legacy, and you'll enjoy a journey through time in the Caterpillar Heritage Gallery. From helping build San Francisco's famed cable car system, to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China, to the widening of the Panama Canal and hundreds of important milestones in between, Caterpillar was there. And you can learn about it here.

See what the Holt steam track-type tractor prototype from 1905 looked like. Get up close and personal with an antique Caterpillar D8 Tractor. Sit in the seat and feel what it was like to operate this machine in the 1930s. Imagine a fleet of Caterpillar tractors helping to build San Francisco's finest bridges.

Envision the future
Caterpillar customers shape the world and build the future. Caterpillar champions customer success through customer-focused product design and implementation.

Explore how customers' ideas drive design and product decisions in the Immersive Visualization center. Use the same 3D technology Caterpillar uses to design and build machines, engines and factories as you sit in the seat of a machine of the future or walk an assembly line of a factory not yet built.

Open your imagination in a visit to the Future Theater where the possibilities of tomorrow's world unfold, seeming as vast as the planet itself.

Meet the people
Caterpillar people—employees, suppliers, dealers and customers—make sustainable progress possible around the world every day. Visit Caterpillar people at work and see them through windows of different parts of the world. Learn how Caterpillar people all over the globe help neighbors and give back to their communities. Watch as Caterpillar dealers work as one with their customers to maintain the lowest possible cost while achieving maximum productivity.

Take home a tractor
Or a Cat hat! The on-site Cat Merchandise Center offers a wide selection of collector die-cast scale models and the latest in Cat and Caterpillar branded footwear and designer apparel. The Merchandise Center accepts Visa, Mastercard and is open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.