Galena Historic District (Boundary Increase and Decrease)

Galena, in northwestern Illinois, retains most of its nineteenth-century city fabric. The historic district takes in over ninety percent of the city and holds about one thousand buildings put up before 1900, with commercial, civic, industrial and residential uses side by side. The town is laid out on three terraces rising from the Galena River: Main Street for commerce, Bench Street for public buildings and churches, and Prospect Street above. Main Street curves with the river and is lined with three- and four-story buildings, mostly from the 1840s and 1850s, in a consistent commercial style. Native buff limestone, local red-orange brick, wood and cast iron were the common materials. The city took its name from lead ore and became the wealthiest in Illinois by the 1840s through mining and steamboat trade. Railroads later drew commerce away. Ulysses S. Grant lived here, and Galena supplied nine Union generals. Little new construction has occurred, and a 1965 ordinance governs exterior changes.