You picture Abraham Lincoln descending the sweeping curved staircase, stovepipe hat in hand, following his speech orated from the hotel balcony in 1856. Or perhaps you imagine townspeople greeting General Ulysses S. Grant at Grant’s welcome home reception following the Civil War. The DeSoto House Hotel in Galena, Illinois, was truly a grand establishment in the mid-1800s. The five story hotel was the center of both social and political events. Then with a fire and a boiler explosion ten years apart and an economic decline when railroads replaced steamboats, the DeSoto House fell into disrepair.
Fast forward to today. The hotel is fully restored. The top two floors were removed years ago and private baths added to all rooms. But reminders of the hotel’s glory days remain, like the sweeping lobby staircase and some of the guests who apparently never completely left.