Galena, Illinois

Thank goodness for fire. After a fire long ago destroyed the wood framed downtown of Galena, the city council ruled that all structures henceforth must be made of brick and stone. As a result, we modern-day shoppers are blessed with a plethora of boutiques inside 100-year-old masonry mercantile stores. Ulysses S. Grant, the famous American Civil War general and subsequent U.S. President, lived in Galena for several years working as an assistant in his father's leather shop. Today the Grant home is a favorite tourist attraction. The city is named for the mineral galena, the natural mineral form of lead sulfide. The ore in Galena was mined by Native American Indians who used it as body painting. Galena is a popular tourist destination hosting well over one million visitors each year, many from the Chicago area. 85 percent of the structures in Galena are historically significant. Opened in 1855, the downtown DeSoto House Hotel, is the oldest operating hotel in Illinois. Galena is the county seat of, and largest municipality in Jo Daviess County. EARNS OUR HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.