Washburne House

<body background="_themes/expeditn/exptextb.jpg" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#006600" vlink="#669966" alink="#990000"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"> <h5 align="left"><font color="#660033"><img src="washburnehouse4.JPG" alt="Elihu B. Washburne Home" align="left" border="2" hspace="10" vspace="10" WIDTH="215" HEIGHT="161"><font color="#804040" face="Bookman Old Style"><big><big><big><big>Congressman Washburne's House</big></big></big></big></font></font></h5> <p><font face="Book Antiqua"><small>The Elihu Washburne House at 908 Third Street in Galena was constructed in 1843 in the popular Greek Revival style and enlarged sixteen years later to its present size. Elihu Washburne (1816-1887), a prominent Galena attorney and later a U.S. congressman (1853-1869), political adviser to Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, and ambassador to France (1869-1877), occupied the house with his family until 1882.  Only one other family owned the house until 1968, when it was purchased by the State of Illinois. Today the house is a state historic site managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.</small></font></p> <p><font face="Book Antiqua" color="#804040"><strong>Elihu Washburne                                                    </strong></font></p> <p><img src="ElihuWashburne.jpg" alt="Elihu Washburne" align="left" hspace="10" vspace="5" border="2" WIDTH="125" HEIGHT="157"><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua"><small>Galena was a thriving commercial center for a profitable lead-mining region when Elihu Washburne arrived in 1840. A recent graduate of Harvard Law School and a Whig, Washburne knew that there was work to be found in Galena, where most of the lawyers were Democrats. Galena residents were, wrote Washburne, a "litigious set" who rarely crossed party lines when employing an attorney.</small></font></p> <p><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua"><small>Washburne opened a law office "in the good part of town," joined the Episcopal Church, became friends with the editor of the local Whig newspaper, and campaigned for Whig candidates. Soon he was employed by Galena's leading Whig lawyer, Charles S. Hempstead, with whom Elihu boarded for several years. There he met Hempstead's niece, Adele Gratiot, whom he married in 1845. The couple had seven children.</small></font></p> <p><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua"><small>Politically active, Washburne served as a delegate to Whig conventions, but by the mid 1850s he was a member of the newly formed Republican party. Washburne campaigned for himself (he served in the House of Representatives from 1853 to 1869) and others. An avid supporter of Abraham Lincoln's</small><img src="washburnegravesite.JPG" alt="Elihu Washburne's gravesite, Greenwood Cemetery, Galena, Illinois" align="right" border="2" hspace="5" vspace="5" WIDTH="158" HEIGHT="188"><small> unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1856, Washburne devoted his "whole soul and energies" to Lincoln's campaign for the presidency in 1860. He advised Lincoln before and after the election and kept him abreast of political developments in Illinois and Washington, D.C.</small></font></p> <dl> <dt><small><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua">Washburne promoted the military and political career of another Galena resident, Ulysses S. Grant. Following Grant's election as president in 1868, Washburne served briefly as Secretary of State before the President appointed him ambassador to France. Recalled from France when Grant's second term of office ended in 1877, Washburne did not return to Galena, which was so "terribly dead and dull," but moved to Chicago. From 1884 until his death on October 22, 1887, he served as president of the Chicago Historical Society. He is buried next to his wife in</font><small><font face="Book Antiqua" color="#004000"> </font></small><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua">Galena's Greenwood Cemetery.</font></small></dt> </dl> <p align="left"><font face="Book Antiqua" color="#804040"><strong>Adele Gratiot Washburne</strong></font></p> <p align="left"><img src="adelewashburne.jpg" alt="Adele Gratiot Washburne" border="2" align="left" hspace="10" WIDTH="140" HEIGHT="171"><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua"><small>Adele Gratiot, (1826-1887) was a native of Galena. Her father, Henry Gratiot, prospected for lead at Galena and later in Wisconsin. He also was an Indian agent who negotiated with the local Winnebago Indians. So respected was Gratiot that for more than twenty years after his death in 1836 the Winnebago visited Adele Gratiot in honor of her father. Adele spoke fluent French, which no doubt served her well during Elihu's tenure as the ambassador to France.</small></font></p> <p align="left"> </p> <dl> <dt> </dt> </dl> <p><font face="Book Antiqua" color="#804040"><strong>Greek Revival Design</strong></font></p> <p><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua"><small>Washburne's success and social position were reflected in his house, which was completed in 1845. The temple-like front portico with its large pillars were characteristic of the Greek Revival style, which was popular in Galena from the 1820s to the 1860s. Washburne closely supervised the house's construction, and when it was enlarged while he was away in the nation's capital, he followed the work in numerous letters.</small></font></p> <p><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua"><small>The interior was organized into distinct formal, informal, and servant areas. The hallway separated the public and private rooms at the front of the house. Guests were received in the parlor, while the sitting room was reserved as a place for family members to read, study, and sew. The servants' work area was confined to the rear of the home where such housekeeping functions as cooking and laundry were conducted.</small></font></p> <p><font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua"><small>The exterior is restored to its appearance as sketched in <em>Harper's New Monthly Magazine</em> in 1866. Inside, the home has been restored as a model of Victorian age middle-class gentility. Some wall coverings in the library and dining room have been restored.</small></font></p> <p> </p> <p><small><font face="Book Antiqua" color="#004080"><strong><u>For more information on the Washburne House please contact the Galena State Historic Sites offices at (815) 777-3310</u>.</strong></font></small></p> <p> </p> <p align="center"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong><a href="index2.htm">Home </a>   <a href="grant_home.htm">Grant Home</a>     <a href="washburne_house.htm">Washburne House </a>   <a href="market_house.htm">Old Market House</a>   <a href="information_center.htm">Information Center</a>  </strong></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong><a href="site_information.htm">Site Information & Special Events</a>   <a href="contact_us.htm">Contact Us</a></strong></font></p> <p align="center"> </p> <dl> <div align="center"><center> <dt><strong><font color="#800040"><small><small>Galena State Hist. Sites</small></small></font></strong></dt> </center></div><div align="center"><center> <dt><strong><font color="#800040"><small><small>P.O. Box 333</small></small></font></strong></dt> </center></div><div align="center"><center> <dt><strong><font color="#800040"><small><small>Galena, IL. 61036</small></small></font></strong></dt> </center></div><div align="center"><center> <dt><strong><font color="#800040"><small><small>(815) 777-3310</small></small></font></strong></dt> </center></div><div align="center"><center> <dt><a href="mailto:granthome@granthome.com" title="Email Us"><font color="#0000FF"><strong><small><small>granthome@granthome.com</small></small></strong></font></a></dt> </center></div> </dl> </font></body>