Exploring Historic Galena

GALENA IS A SULFIDE OF LEAD (CHEMICAL FORMULA, PbS)   In the United States, galena is found in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Colorado and Montana.  Native Americans called the land of Galena Manitoomie (Sacred Ground or God's Country).  They mined rich deposits of lead ore long before French explorers of the late 1600's discovered the mineral treasure. 

 In 1807, Congress created the Upper Mississippi Lead Mine District and Galena's first trading post was built in 1819.  Four years later the first steamboat ascended the Mississippi River.  Mining, steamboating, and commerce flourished and by 1850's Galena was the busiest port in the Mississippi River.  Then the Illinois Central Railroad came and trains replaced the steamboats.  

The primal beauty of rolling hills and rugged cliffs remain the same when the Ice Age glaciers thundered down from the far north thousands of years ago and inexplicably divided, detoured and spared leveling the land now called Galena and Jo Daviess County.

1822 - 1885

The Civil War came.  Galena gave the Union Army nine generals including Ulysses Simpson Grant who later became the 18th President of the United States in 1868.  It was in 1860 before the Civil War that he moved his family to Galena from St. Louis where Grant's two younger brothers operated their father's leather-goods store.   He earned a salary of $800 a year.  He was almost 40 when the Civil War broke out.  He returned to Galena in 1865 as Civil War hero.

GALENA RIVER

The river with its close proximity to Mississippi River helped Galena develop into a boom town during the first half of the 1800s.  The river that was once called Fever River  was at one time about 265 feet wide.  The name was changed in 1853 as folks called it almost "sickly" and a hard name to call a sparkling stream.  After the Civil War, steamboat whistles no longer blew.  The Galena River silted in.  There was an increased amount of soil that washed into the river due to clearing and cultivation of steeped slopes.  These emptied and narrowed the river.  Dredge boats tried to clear away the mud along the river but it became an endless task.

GALENA AS TOURIST DESTINATION

Video Link http://youtu.be/jQ6y0lDitqs

DOWNTOWN GALENA

The DeSoto House Hotel opened its doors in 1855.  Soon it became known as the best hotel west of New York City for its sumptuous accommodations and meticulous service.  There was a major renovations in the 1980's.  

More than a hundred steps going up

Overview from top of the hill 

A fee of $8 to see the museum

GALENA VISITORS

City Hall

In 1857, civil engineer Gen.  Ely S.  Parker, a Seneca Indian who served under Grant,  came to Galena.  He was assigned to construct a Custom House and Post Office (see here) as well as the Marine Hospital in town.  The Renaissance Revival building is the second oldest continuously-operating post office in the United States. 

Galena Public Library was endowed by the Felt Family and built in 1907 in the Greek Revival style.  The reading room features a mosaic fireplace in a wisteria pattern, done in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School of architecture.  It has an extensive  historic collection - genealogical materials, microfilms of Galena newspapers from 1834, documents and records. 

GRAND OLD HOUSES  

Related Links:

http://libslabyrinth.blogspot.com/2007/11/illinoismile.html

http://libslabyrinth.blogspot.com/2007/11/wishing-wisconsin.html

http://libslabyrinth.blogspot.com/2007/11/cruising-alaska.html


Recyclable Web Page    Don't Know Much History   October2014

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Hi Fely of Toronto,

Canadian lab tech Ellen arrived in Chicago yesterday, Sunday, to attend a Sysmex training for a week.  I hope to see her when she has the time, either in her relatives' house in Skokie or at Indigo Hotel in Vernon Hills.  It would be nice to see her again and have dinner.
Indigo Hotel
450 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Vernon Hills, IL. 60061
1-800-593-5447




Published  2/2/09  ALT  MSN  Group
Web Page:  Visiting Chicago