page_title: Galena Historic District
section_title: Individual structures
hierarchical_section_title: Galena Historic District / Buildings / Individual structures
caption_attribution_description: Ulysses S. Grant Home, Galena, Illinois, USA. U.S. National Historic Landmark.
context_page_description: The Galena Historic District is a historic district located in the city of Galena, Illinois, USA. The historic district encompasses 85 percent of the city of Galena and includes more than 800 properties. The downtown area consists of three successive tiers made up of Main, Bench and Prospect Streets. Within the boundaries of the district are such notable homes as the Ulysses S. Grant Home and the Elihu B. Washburne House. The Galena Historic District was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
context_section_description: Within the boundaries of the Galena Historic District are three structures that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places in their own right. The Ulysses S. Grant Home is a declared National Historic Landmark, and the Elihu B. Washburne House and Old Market House enjoy listings on the National Register. Aside from those structures, many buildings dating to the early history of Galena and Illinois are included within the district.
  The DeSoto House Hotel, on Main Street, opened in April 1855 and is reported as the oldest operating hotel in Illinois. Like many hotels, the DeSoto played host to important and prominent guests of its day; individuals such as Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, and Ralph Waldo Emerson all passed through its doors. Abraham Lincoln once spoke from the hotel balcony as well. Today the hotel has 55 rooms, two dining rooms and a tavern.
  Just off Main Street, at Green and Commerce Streets, is the historic Galena Customs House and U.S. Post Office. The building is a superior example of Federal style architecture. It was constructed in 1858 and originally served as the Galena Customs House before finding use as the U.S. Post Office, its current function. 
  Even amidst the public buildings of Bench Street are examples of some of the fine mansions constructed around Galena, each an integral part of the historic district in its own right. The John Dowling House is one such mansion, cast in the Classical Revival style, the Dowling House was built within the grounds of the stockade constructed here during the Black Hawk War. The 1847 Dowling House was surveyed as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934.
caption: Ulysses S. Grant Home, a National Historic Landmark
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