Galena's Living History Alliance

1 day ago

Every once in a while, one of our research binders takes on a life of its own.

And the binder for the Arthur Glessner House at 708 Park Avenue is certainly one of them.

When our Vice President and binder researcher, Eva Ott-Kromphardt, began researching the Glessner family, we knew there would be a story to tell. We did not quite anticipate more than 175 pages of it.

The house was built in 1884 for Arthur and his mother, Mary Glessner, a widow who had come to America from Cornwall, England, as a nine-year-old girl and had once taught school in the Elizabeth area. After her husband's death, her son Arthur purchased two lots along what was then Second Street in Galena and he hired Harry Telford to build what the newspaper described as a very attractive Queen Anne cottage.

And attractive it was! When finished, the house had a deep red roof, a light olive-green body and bronze-green trim, with a beautiful view across the city. Just two years later, Mary added a wing and had the house repainted.

But that is only the beginning.

Mary lived here for many years with her daughter Maggie, while Arthur's remarkable life carried him between Galena and Chicago. Arthur founded the Excelsior Steel Furnace Company and became an important figure in the steel and heating industry. He was also an inventor. One of his inventions became the subject of a patent dispute in which it was eventually determined that Arthur had actually conceived, built and tested the device before a competing company. He also received a patent for a machine used to manufacture nested stove pipe.

Then there was the Galena Gazette.

After the death of his father-in-law, James B. Brown, Arthur took over as editor of the Gazette, beginning an association with Galena's newspaper that would span many years. Even after moving his family permanently to Chicago, Galena remained very much a part of his life.

And when you read through Eva's research, it is the little stories that really bring this family to life.

There were birthday parties and teas at the house. Mary attended the World's Fair in Chicago. Maggie worked at the Galena post office. The family traveled throughout the United States and Europe. There were summers away, winters in Florida, trips by boat and train, and endless visits back and forth between Chicago and Galena.

There was also plenty of excitement at 708 Park Avenue.

In 1889, two women walking home from church realized that a strange man was following them near Grant Park. Terrified, they ran up the steps of the Glessner home and threw themselves against the door for safety. The newspaper later reported the incident under the memorable title, “Jack the Grabber.”

In 1898, Mary returned from shopping to discover that the house had been burglarized. Maggie's gold watch and jewelry were gone.

And the Glessner story stretched well into the next generation. During World War I, Arthur and Abbie had two sons serving their country at the same time. Herbert was stationed in France, while Arthur Brown Glessner was sent all the way to Siberia.

There were successes and celebrations in these pages, but also losses. Arthur and Abbie's daughter Margaret died in 1918, only eight months after giving birth to her daughter Elizabeth. As grandparents sometimes do, Arthur and Abbie then helped raise Elizabeth and her sister Peggy.

It is impossible to squeeze more than 175 pages of a family's life into one Facebook post, and that may be the best part of these binders. The plaque gives us a name and a date. The research gives us the people.

When Mike and Milly Jones recently delivered this enormous binder to the Machalas, they joked that there would be a quiz after they finished reading it.

Considering the size of this one, we may need to give them a little extra study time.

Our heartfelt thanks to the Machalas for being such wonderful stewards of this beautiful 1884 home and for the love and care they continue to give it. Homes like this survive because, generation after generation, someone decides they are worth caring for.

And an especially heartfelt thank you to our Eva. More than 175 pages of research represents countless hours and months, spent following names, dates, newspaper articles, census records, photographs and family connections. Her work has preserved far more than the history of a house. It has preserved the story of the people who once called it home.

That is exactly why we do what we do. … See MoreSee Less

Galena's Living History Alliance

2 days ago

There is something especially moving about standing in front of a home that has been there for more than 180 years and realizing just how much life has passed through its doors.

The beautiful home at 528 S. Dodge Street was built c. 1840 by Thomas Shannon and his wife, Mary Touhy Shannon, and theirs is one of those Galena stories that just keeps getting better the more you learn.

Thomas was born in Ireland in 1812 and came to the Galena area in 1832, when this was still a young and growing community. Mary was born in Michigan in 1817 and came to Jo Daviess County early in her life. Thomas and Mary were married here on February 24, 1840.

Thomas was a stone mason by trade, a skill that would have served him well in a place like Galena, where stone was so much a part of the growing town. In time, he purchased farmland in East Galena and spent decades working as a farmer, building a life there with Mary and their children.

Together they raised seven children: John, Bridget, Richard, Matthew, James, Sarah and Alice. Their home was built the year of their marriage, and by the 1850 census the house was certainly a busy one, filled with six children.

Thomas and Mary spent most of their married life on their farm in East Galena, raising their family and building a life together. And then, like so many families of their generation, the Civil War changed everything.

Thomas served with the 96th Illinois Infantry, and what we discovered about his service is something we simply couldn't leave out of his story. Years later, newspapers still remembered him as the “original hero of Chickamauga.” While serving on picket duty, Thomas reportedly encountered three armed Confederate soldiers and somehow managed to capture all three of them by himself, marching them back to headquarters.

Just imagine that for a moment.

This quiet Galena farmer, husband and father left his home and family to serve his country, and came home with a story that people were still telling decades later.

Thomas returned to Mary and their family and continued working the land for years. By 1880, however, they had moved to Bouthillier Street and he had returned to the trade he had known earlier in life, once again working as a stone mason. It is such an interesting full circle story, coming back to his original trade just a few years before his death.

Thomas died of pneumonia on February 21, 1884, at the age of 72.

Mary would live another sixteen years.

After Thomas was gone, she eventually moved to Dubuque to live with their youngest daughter, Alice Shannon Garrity. Mary died there in 1900 at the age of 82. Her funeral brought her back to Galena, where services were held at St. Michael's Catholic Church before she was laid to rest in the "East Side Catholic Cemetery".

But our favorite part of Mary's story came from the words written about her after her death. She was remembered as a devoted wife and mother, an earnest Christian woman and a “model neighbor.”

There is something so beautiful about that.

Thomas had his story of extraordinary courage on a Civil War battlefield. Mary was remembered for the way she loved her family, lived her faith and treated the people around her.

Together, those two very different memories give us a lovely glimpse into the people who once called 528 S. Dodge Street home.

Today, that home is in the hands of Joseph and Nancy, and we could not be happier to see it so loved and cared for. These old Galena homes have survived because generation after generation, someone has looked at them and understood that they were worth saving.

Joseph and Nancy, thank you for being those people.

Thank you for the love and care you have given the Thomas and Mary Shannon home, and for helping preserve a place where one Galena family's story began so many years ago. … See MoreSee Less

Galena's Living History Alliance

3 days ago

There is something especially meaningful about a plaque that is given as a gift, because it becomes so much more than a marker on a house. It becomes a little piece of history passed from one generation to another.

We are so grateful to Pat for gifting a Galena Living History Alliance plaque to her son, Todd, the current owner and steward of the Ernest B. Virtue House at 1032 Franklin Street. What a wonderful gift to Todd, to this beautiful old home, and really, to all of us who love seeing Galena’s stories remembered.

Ernest B. Virtue was born October 2, 1887, the son of John and Mary Virtue, and grew up on the family farm in East Galena Township. After moving into Galena, Ernest spent five years as greenskeeper for the Galena Golf Club and, for the last twenty years of his life, worked for the Uehren and Furlong funeral home. He was also a member of Galena’s First Presbyterian Church.

Ernest married Christina Schweitzer, and together they raised four children: Betty, George, William and Pauline.

Sadly, Ernest’s life was much shorter than Christina’s. In July of 1950, he became ill with what was described at the time as a pneumonia virus and was taken to Finley Hospital in Dubuque. He died there in the early morning hours of July 18 at just 62 years old. He was laid to rest in the Virtue family lot at Greenwood Cemetery.

Christina would live for nearly another forty years.

She died on February 21, 1990, at the remarkable age of 97, and was laid to rest beside Ernest at Greenwood Cemetery. There is something touching about thinking of those many decades between their deaths and knowing that, in the end, they are together again.

And now their home on Franklin Street carries the Virtue name once again.

Thank you, Pat, for choosing such a thoughtful gift for Todd, and thank you, Todd, for being the present-day steward of the Ernest Virtue House. Every homeowner who chooses to honor the people who came before them helps us keep another little piece of Galena from slipping away.

We are so happy to see the Virtues remembered at 1032 Franklin Street. … See MoreSee Less

Galena's Living History Alliance

5 days ago

There is something especially meaningful about seeing an old Galena home in the hands of people who truly love it, and we are so grateful to Richard and Karen for the care and affection they have shown the former home of George R. Collins and his wife, Annie at 510 Hill Street.

George was born in Cork, Ireland, on August 23, 1825. After leaving Ireland, he and Annie spent a short time in New Brunswick before making their way to Galena in 1854, then building this lovely home where they would become part of the community for decades.

Annie had been born in Ireland on December 23, 1828, and came to America in 1848. Her obituary gives us such a lovely glimpse of the woman she was. She had joined the Methodist Episcopal Church as a little girl and, after settling in Galena, devoted herself to the church and its Sunday School. For more than 30 years, Annie taught Sunday School at Galena’s First M.E. Church, and her obituary noted that many of Galena's residents had received their religious education from her.

She was remembered as a woman of "unusual intelligence, deeply sympathetic, steadfast in her faith and strong in her friendships." When Annie died at just 60 years old, after a seven-week illness, she left behind George, their adopted son, and many friends who mourned her loss.

George worked as a master carpenter and remained deeply involved in the same church they had loved together. He was described as a faithful and consistent member, active in church work and, for many years, assistant superintendent of the Sunday School. He lived another decade after Annie’s death, spending nearly half a century in the community they had chosen as their home.

We love when a plaque gives us the chance to remember not only the people who built and lived in these old houses, but the lives that unfolded inside them. George and Annie Collins quietly gave decades of their lives to their church, their neighbors and Galena.
Now, more than 170 years later, their home is still being loved.

Thank you, Richard and Karen, for being such wonderful stewards of this piece of Galena history and for the love you have shown this beautiful old home. It means so much to see these houses cared for by people who understand just how special they are. … See MoreSee Less