Ulysses S. Grant Home Galena, IL
Grant Home
SITE
500 Bouthillier St,
Galena, IL 61036
(815) 777-3310
granthome@granthome.com
Wed - Sun, 9am - 4:45pm
Suggested donation - $5 /adult
Tours are continuous
Wait time - 15min or less between tours
Wait is outdoors
Managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as the U.S. Grant Home State Historic Site. The Grant Home site includes several small mid-19th century homes comprising the three-block “Grant Home Historic Neighborhood.” “Grant State Park,” a tree-shaded area south of the Grant Home has picnic tables for public use. Also in the park is the Long House, a log building constructed ca. 1851 and moved to the site from Elizabeth, Illinois in 1976, representing a typical settler’s home of mid-nineteenth-century Jo Daviess County.
The Ulysses S. Grant Home in Galena, Illinois is the former home of Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil War general and later the 18th president of the United States. The brick house, which was designed by William Dennison, had been constructed in 1860 for former City Clerk Alexander J. Jackson. Thomas B. Hughlett, on behalf of only a small group of local Republicans (including Elihu B. Washburne), purchased the house for $2,500 in June 1865 ($48,186.35 in 2024) and presented it to Grant two months later. The house is typical of the Italianate style, which is characterized by well defined rectilinear shapes, projecting eaves supported by brackets, low pitched roof, and balustraded balconies over covered porches.Thomas B. Hughlett, on behalf of only a small group of local Republicans (including Elihu B. Washburne), purchased the house for $2,500 in June 1865 and presented it to Grant two months later. The house is typical of the Italianate style, which is characterized by well defined rectilinear shapes, projecting eaves supported by brackets, low pitched roof, and balustraded balconies over covered porches.
HISTORY
Grant and his family lived there during his 1868 presidential campaign and again for a few periods during his presidency and retirement. Following his election as president in 1868 he visited only occasionally. In 1873 Grant commented that "although it is probable I will never live much time among you, but in the future be only a visitor as I am at present, . . . I hope to retain my residence here . . . I expect to cast my vote here always." The house was maintained by caretakers in anticipation of the President's visits, the local newspaper reporting that it was "in excellent order and ready for occupation at any time," adding that "visitors are always admitted."
Grant made his final visits to his Galena home in 1880. At that time he found that several changes had been made - "a new sidewalk laid in front of the premises, the outbuildings repaired, the trees handsomely trimmed, a new and commodious wash house built and other improvements made."
