Galena's historic Washburne House reopens for public tours

 

            GALENA - A historic home in Galena second in prominence only to the Ulysses S. Grant Home is open for free public tours one day per week thanks to a group of local volunteers.

 

            The Elihu B. Washburne House is open on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from May through October with members of the Questers, a local preservation group, serving as volunteer interpreters.  Volunteers from the Questers enabled the home to be open on a limited basis last year, and due to the popularity of those tours the group decided to provide two volunteers each Friday to open the house again this year.

 

            "We thank the Questers for their generous commitment to open this historic home to the public once again," said Galena State Historic Sites manager Terry Miller.  "We plan to restore the historic fence around the Washburne House and provide new signs to improve the visitor experience this season."

 

            Elihu B. Washburne came to Galena in 1840 to practice law, and became a loyal friend to Abraham Lincoln.  Congressman Washburne also helped champion the rise to prominence of Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War, and encouraged Grant to return to Galena in August 1865.  Washburne's wife, Adele Gratiot Washburne, was one of Galena's earliest settlers (1826) and welcomed the Native American Winnebago people as guests in her Galena home.  Mrs. Washburne spoke French and assisted her husband while he was Ambassador to France during the Grant administration.  The Washburnes are buried under the tallest monument in Galena's Greenwood Cemetery.

 

            The Washburne House, Ulysses S. Grant Home and Old Market House State Historic Sites, all in Galena, are administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.