📍Ulysses S. Grant Home, 500 Bouthillier Street, Galena, IL 61036, USA
1865 – 1880“I grew up in Georgetown, Ohio, the son of a tanner. I hated the stink and blood of the tannery, and my father let me earn my keep with horses instead, ploughing, hauling wood and driving teams. Horses were my great gift; I could ride and break almost any horse, and at West Point I set a high-jump record on horseback. After the Mexican War and years of hardship, in 1860 I brought my family to Galena, Illinois, a prosperous lead-mining town on the hills above the Galena River, to work as a clerk in my father's leather goods store, managed by my younger brothers. I was nearly forty, and many people thought my life had gone nowhere. Then, in April 1861, war came, and the town gathered to raise volunteers. I helped drill them, and from that moment my life changed. Galena sent nine generals to the Union army, and the town followed every battle. When the war ended, I came home to a celebration in August 1865: there was a procession, speeches, and then a group of Galena citizens presented me with a handsome, furnished brick house on Bouthillier Street, on the hill across the river. We were grateful. Julia and I loved Galena's quiet streets and friendly neighbours, and the house was our home whenever we could get away from Washington. It was in Galena, among our neighbours, that I learned in 1868 that I had been elected president. After my presidency and our journey around the world, we returned here again. Today the house is preserved as the Ulysses S. Grant Home, much as we left it, with many of our own furnishings still in place.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today