Eastern Route

In 1834 the Rev. George Washington Gale of Whitesboro, Oneida County, New York, conceived the idea of establishing a western college in a town specifically colonized for that purpose. Subscriptions were taken for the purpose of raising $40,000 to purchase and plat a Township of land in one of the western states. By May 1835 sufficient funds had been secured for an exploring committee to go to Indiana and Illinois. On or about November 1835 a purchasing committee (consisting of Sylvanus Ferris, Nehemiah West, Thomas Simmons and Mr. Gale) purchased 10,746.81 acres in Knox County. Nehemiah Losey, deputized surveyor and later a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Science at Knox College, laid out the town among prairie grass and wild flowers. It was six blocks north and south and seven blocks east and west.

By the fall of 1837 the town had 232 inhabitants. The growth of Galesburg was steady, but slow. It was incorporated as a village in 1841 and by 1850 had a population of about 882. In the mid-1850s, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad completed a line that went through Galesburg, and forever changed the economic and political bases of the city. The population exploded to over 4,000 by 1856 and reached 9,230 in 1867. The City of Galesburg incorporated on February 14, 1857. After an election in 1869, and after years of debate and an Illinois Supreme Court decision in 1873, Galesburg became the county seat.

City of Galesburg

The modern Galesburg station, easily recognizable by the steeply pitched gabled roof on its entrance portico and traditional flanking wings with hipped roofs, was built in 1984 with funding from the city of Galesburg, Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation. The land was donated by the BNSF Railway and landscaping assistance provided by a local bank. The cost of the new station project was less than $300,000. The original wooden pews were salvaged from the predecessor Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q) Railroad station and installed in the new facility, along with a historically-styled natural-wood interior paneling, ceiling fans and lamps. Currently, the city maintains the station’s exterior while Amtrak maintains its interior. A statue of Abraham Lincoln stands on the depot grounds to commemorate his many visits to the community.

Great American Stations

The three successive CB&Q stations built in Galesburg certainly fit the town’s aspirations as a commercial center. The first was destroyed by fire in 1881 and was replaced in 1884 with a sturdy red-brick Victorian structure. The 1884 station featured three floors on two wings with a tall, square tower capped with a high pyramidal roof, embellished in pale stone. This structure burned as well in April of 1911, and a new depot was constructed in 1912 to replace it. This last was an Italianate brick station with five arched bays per wing flanking a blocky, projecting portico, the whole giving an impression of solidity and purpose. All three of these stations stood upon the approximate location of the current facility. The third structure was razed in 1983, and replaced with the current facility.

Great American Stations

The Amtrak depot is located east of the historic Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q) station, which Amtrak used from 1971 until 1974. Opened in July 1984, the one-story Amtrak facility follows a standardized plan introduced by the company in the late 1970s. Intended to be functional and cost-efficient, these depot designs enforced Amtrak branding by employing a unified material and color palette. The building features variegated buff brick walls punctuated by large floor-to-ceiling windows. A small band of clerestory windows wraps around the upper portion of the waiting room wall, producing a visual effect whereby the cantilevered roof appears to float above the structure.

Looming above the newer building, the old Burlington Station was designed by famed Omaha architect Thomas Rodgers Kimball and opened on July 4, 1898, in time for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, a glittering international showcase that attracted visitors to Omaha from around the world. Eleven years after Amtrak moved into its own building, the then-owner stripped marble from the walls, chandeliers from the ceilings, even the antique fixtures from the bathrooms. From 2013-2015, the building was renovated to serve as studios and offices for Omaha television station KETV.

Great American Stations