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DeSoto House, The

CITY:

Galena

COUNTY:

Jo Daviess

DEDICATED BY:

The Illinois State Historical Society

DEDICATION DATE:

January 1, 1959 at 6:00:00 AM

The marker is located in Galena at 230 Main Street, at its intersection with Green Street. It is mounted on the southeast corner of the De Soto House Hotel.

Opened in April, 1855, the five-story, 240 room De Soto House was “the largest and most luxurious hotel in the West.” Abraham Lincoln spoke from its balcony in 1856 and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. Ulysses S. Grant maintained his 1868 presidential campaign headquarters here. By 1880 Galena’s prosperity had faded and the hotel’s two upper stories were removed.

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