Galena ยท Main Street
DeSoto House Hotel
Galena's 1855 hotel, where Lincoln spoke from the balcony in 1856 and Grant ran his presidential campaign from rooms 209 and 211.
- Built
- 1855Opened April 9, 1855 as a five-story hotel built by the Galena Hotel Company; the upper two floors were removed in 1880 (official history).
- Type
- Inn
- Rooms
- 55
- Area
- Main Street
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district
The story
Local investors formed the Galena Hotel Company as the Illinois Central Railroad arrived, and the DeSoto House opened on April 9, 1855, billed as the ‘Largest Hotel in the West,’ with five stories and, per the hotel, 225 guest rooms. Abraham Lincoln spoke from its Main Street balcony on July 23, 1856, and Stephen A. Douglas on July 25, 1858. Ulysses S. Grant later used rooms 209 and 211 as his presidential campaign headquarters. As Galena’s economy faded, the top two floors were removed in 1880.
The ghost story
Haunted Rooms reports that staff claim to have seen apparitions in 'old fashioned attire' passing through walls where doors once stood, along with unexplained cigar smoke and disembodied voices.
Source: www.hauntedrooms.com
Good to know
- Address: 230 S. Main Street, Galena, IL 61036
Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.