By the 1850's, Galena was the busiest Mississippi River port between St. Louis and St. Paul and the population reached its zenith of 14,000. Then the railroad came and trains replaced steamboats. The Civil War came. Galena gave the Union Army nine generals including Ulysses S. Grant, who later became the 18th President of the United States. The war brought renewed demands for lead, but not enough to bring back the glory days.
Steamboat whistles no longer blew.
The Galena River silted in. For decades, Galena slept like Rip Van Winkel, its magnificent architecture hidden under the protective dust of time. Then, in the 1960's, Galena was rediscovered by people who saw beneath the dust, treasured her antiquity, and set about the task of lovingly restoring her. The work is ongoing. But, the fruits of the labor are glorious.