Galesburg, Illinois

History

Galesburg was founded by George Washington Gale, a Presbyterian minister from New York state who dreamed of establishing a manual labor college (which became Knox College). A committee from New York purchased 17 acres (0.069 km²; 0.027 sq mi) in Knox County in 1835, and the first 25 settlers arrived in 1836. They built temporary cabins in Log City near current Lake Storey, just north of Galesburg, having decided that no log cabins were to be built inside the town limits.

Galesburg was home to the first anti-slavery society in Illinois, founded in 1837, and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The city was the site of the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate, on a temporary speaker's platform attached to Knox College's Old Main building on October 7, 1858. Knox College continues to maintain and use Old Main to this day. An Underground Railroad Museum and Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum were built in Knox College's Alumni Hall after it had finished renovations.

Galesburg was the home of Mary Ann Bickerdyke, who provided hospital care for Union soldiers during the American Civil War. After the Civil War, Galesburg was the birthplace of poet, author, and historian Carl Sandburg, poet and artist Dorothea Tanning, and former Major League Baseball star Jim Sundberg. Carl Sandburg's boyhood home is now operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as the Carl Sandburg State Historic Site. The site contains the cottage Sandburg was born in, a modern museum, the rock under which he and his wife Lilian are buried, and a performance venue.

Throughout much of its history, Galesburg has been inextricably tied to the railroad industry. Local businessmen were major backers of the first railroad to connect Illinois' (then) two biggest cities—Chicago and Quincy—as well as a third leg initially terminating across the river from Burlington, Iowa, eventually connecting to it via bridge and thence onward to the Western frontier. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) sited major rail sorting yards here, including the first to use hump sorting. The CB&Q also built a major depot on South Seminary Street which was controversially torn down and replaced by a much smaller station in 1983. The yard is still used by the BNSF Railway.

In the late 19th century, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway connected its service through to Chicago, it also laid track through Galesburg, making this city one of relatively few of its size to be served by multiple railroads and even fewer to have multiple railroad depots. (Indeed, it was not until 1996 that Amtrak finally closed the old Santa Fe depot and consolidated all passenger operations at the site of the former Burlington Northern depot.) A series of mergers eventually united both lines under the ownership of BNSF Railway, carrying an average of seven trains per hour between them. As of the closing of the Maytag plant in fall of 2004, BNSF is once again the largest private employer in Galesburg.

In addition, Galesburg was home to the pioneering brass era automobile company Western, which produced the Gale, named for the town.

Lombard College was located in Galesburg until 1930, and is now the site of Lombard Middle School.

The Carr Mansion in Galesburg was the site of a presidential cabinet meeting held in 1899 by U.S. President William McKinley and U.S. Secretary of State John Hay.

Geography

Galesburg is located at 40°57′8″N 90°22′7″W (40.952292, -90.368545).

According to the 2010 census, Galesburg has a total area of 17.928 square miles (46.43 km²), of which 17.75 square miles (45.97 km²) (or 99.01%) is land and 0.178 square miles (0.46 km²) (or 0.99%) is water.

Transportation

Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service from Chicago on four trains daily. It operates the California Zephyr, Carl Sandburg, Illinois Zephyr, and Southwest Chief daily from Chicago to Galesburg (Amtrak station) and points west. The Southwest Chief and the state-supported Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr take passengers to Chicago as well, but the Zephyr only discharges passengers on its eastbound run.

Galesburg Transit provides bus service to the City of Galesburg. There are 4 routes: Gold Express Loop, Green Central Loop, Red West Loop, & Blue East Loop. BNSF provides rail freight to Galesburg and operates a large hump yard 1.9 miles south of town.

Galesburg is served by Interstate 74, whose route runs north to Moline, Illinois in the Quad Cities region, and to the southeast to Peoria, Illinois and beyond. The Chicago – Kansas City Expressway, also known as Illinois Route 110 (IL 110), runs through Galesburg, to the southwest it passes through Macomb, Illinois, the home of Western Illinois University, and towards Quincy, Illinois, before crossing into Missouri. U.S. Route 34 connects Galesburg with Burlington, Iowa.

The Galesburg Municipal Airport provides general aviation access, while Quad City International Airport and General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport both provide commercial flights.

Galesburg will soon be home to the National Railroad Hall of Fame. Efforts are underway to raise funds for the $30 million project which got a major boost in 2006, when the United States Congress passed a bill to charter the establishment. It is hoped that the Museum will bring tourism and a financial boost to the community.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,706 people, 13,237 households, and 7,902 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,994.9 inhabitants per square mile (770.2/km²). There were 14,133 housing units at an average density of 836.5 per square mile (322.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.23% White, 10.20% African American, 0.22% Native American, 1.03% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.46% from other races, and 1.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.01% of the population. 17.4% were of German, 12.6% American, 11.5% Irish, 11.3% Swedish and 9.1% English ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 13,237 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.6% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the city, the population was spread out with 21.1% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 100.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,987, and the median income for a family was $41,796. Males had a median income of $31,698 versus $21,388 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,214. About 10.7% of families and 14.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.4% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Festivals

Galesburg is the home of the Railroad Days festival held on the fourth weekend of June. The festival began in 1978 as an open house to the public from the then Burlington Northern. Burlington Northern gave train car tours of their yards. The City of Galesburg started having street fairs to draw more people to town. In 1981, the Galesburg Railroad Museum was founded and opened during Railroad Days. For a while, the city and the railroad worked together on planning the annual celebrations. In 2002, the railroad backed out of the planning of the festival and there were no tours of the yards. In 2003 the city worked with local groups to revamp the festival and the Galesburg Railroad Museum resumed bus tours of the yards. The Galesburg Railroad Museum has continued to provide tours of the yards since then. In 2010, the Galesburg Railroad Museum started offering a VIP tour of the yards, in which a select group of riders would be allowed in the Hump Towers and Diesel Shop and see the BNSF at work. During the festival, Carl Sandburg College hosts one of the largest model railroad train shows and layouts in the U.S. Midwest.

During Labor Day weekend in September, Galesburg hosts the Stearman Fly in. Also in September are the Great Cardboard Boat Regatta and the Annual Rubber Duck Race held at Lake Storey. On the third weekend of every August, a Civil war and Pre 1840s Rendezvous is held at Lake Storey Park.

The Black Earth Film Festival has been a part of the Galesburg art community since 2004. Affiliated with the Galesburg Civic Art Center, the festival receives entries from all over the world. The Black Earth Film Festival now takes place in February as of 2014 and presents the best in feature length, short subjects, documentaries, animation and foreign films. Awards are given for the aforementioned categories, as well as a peoples choice award for best overall film. Festival highlights include special guests from within the film industry. Past participants have included Director John D. Hancock (Bang The Drum Slowly, Prancer, Let's Scare Jessica to Death,) Filmmakers Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank (subjects of the award Winning Documentary American Movie) and Filmmakers Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos (Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation.)

There is a kite festival every May at Lake Storey Park.

Popular culture

Media

Galesburg has multiple radio stations and newspapers delivering a mix of local, regional and national news. WGIL-AM, WAAG, WLSR-FM and WKAY-FM are all owned by Galesburg Broadcasting while Prairie Radio Communications owns WAIK-AM. KZZ66 provides Weather Information for NOAA Weather Radio in the Galesburg area. The Galesburg Register-Mail is the result of the merger of the Galesburg Republican-Register and the Galesburg Daily Mail in 1927. Those two papers can trace their roots back to the mid-19th century. A daily, it is the main newspaper of the city, and was owned by Copley Press out of San Diego until it was sold to Gate House Media in April 2007. The Zephyr was started in 1989, was published on Thursdays and was the only locally owned newspaper until its final edition December 9, 2010. The New Zephyr began publication in early 2013. It is published every Friday.

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