First Presbyterian Church - Galena, Illinois - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

My Commentary: Another in a line of Romanesque Revival buildings on this street. The buff stone exterior really stands out, especially when viewed from the Grant Home across the Galena River. This building was constructed in 1838 and is the oldest Protestant Church in continuous use in the Old Northwest Territory.

Halfway down the next block and to the left is the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, built in 1838. Some say the steeple, added in 1854, is a reproduction of that on the old South Church in Boston and others that an early pastor duplicated that of a church he had observed in a Swiss valley. Its founder was Aratus Kent, Yale and Princeton graduate, whose zeal brought him from New England to the West. He is said to have appealed to the American Missionary Society for a difficult assignment. "Send me to a place that is so hard that no one else will take it," he urged. So he was sent to Galena, and, arriving on a Sunday, cleaned out an unfinished store, set up benches and conducted the first Presbyterian service. In 1831 he organized the First Presbyterian Church of Galena with a nucleus of six persons. He also pioneered in education and in the anti-slavery movement. He was one of the founders of Beloit and Rockford colleges. His brother, Germanicus, settled in Rockford, seat of Winnebago County, in 1835. In the forties the Reverend Kent's church was the largest west of Chicago. In 1832 he convinced Amasa B. Campbell that the latter should come to Galena and open a school for boys. Campbell remained for fifteen years, being succeeded by Dr. George Magoun, who later became first President of Grinnell College at Grinnell, Iowa. Kent was appointed general superintendent of home missions for the Northwest in 1855.

- Galena Guide, 1937, pg. 55

Current name: First Presbyterian Church

Architect: Richard Bond, Boston

Builder: Stone mason: John Cavanagh
Woodwork: Andrew Dodds

Style: Romanesque Revival. Tower

Architectural Description: This is a multi-story church in the Romanesque Revival style built in 1838. The foundation is sandstone. Exterior walls are sandstone. The building has a front-gable roof clad in metal. Windows are stained glass. The original windows were made of opaque yellow glass. The stained glass windows you see today were installed between 1890-1910. They are made of Belgium stained glass with the colors fired in rather than painted on. Doors are original wood paneled.

- ruskinarc.com Historic Architecture Survey Database

National Register Building Details
ADDRESS	HIST. PROPERTY NAME	C or N/C	DATE	STYLE, FORM, TYPE
106 N. Bench Street	First Presbyterian Church	C	1838	Romanesque Revival

- National Register Application

Book: Galena, IL Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 55 Year Originally Published: 1937

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