Skip to content
Dowling House, Galena, IL

Photo: Joseph Gage from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sightseeing

Dowling House

Galena's earliest surviving house, a limestone building from 1826 that now hosts guided history tours.

220 Diagonal Street, Galena, Illinois, 61036 · Galena, IL

About Dowling House

The Dowling House is a limestone building in Galena, Illinois, said to be the town's oldest house. Its builder, John Dowling, finished it in 1826, and it once served as a trading post where fur traders stayed. Guides walk visitors through the development of Galena and the house while they view early nineteenth-century objects. Visitors can ask about a discount when buying combined tickets with the Belvedere Mansion.

  • #historic house
  • #guided tour
  • #limestone
  • #fur trade
  • #Galena

What's around here?

The closest stops to Dowling House, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Sightseeing
    History Buff

    Galena Historic District

    No admission fee

    Walk a river town of brick storefronts, hillside streets and 1800s homes that once outgrew Chicago in the lead-mining boom.

    0.2 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing

    General Grant's Home

    Check prices

    Galena house linked to Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th U.S. president, run as a state historic site.

    0.4 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Apple River Canyon State Park

    Check prices

    Hike wooded trails above a limestone canyon cut by the Apple River in the unglaciated hills of Illinois' northwest corner.

    19 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Mississippi Palisades State Park

    Check prices

    Hike 15 miles of bluff trails to overlooks high above the Mississippi, climb rock towers like Twin Sisters and Indian Head, and camp under the cliffs.

    23 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Museums

    Cedarville Historical Museum

    Check prices

    Local history museum run by the Cedarville Area Historical Society, in a town noted as Jane Addams's birthplace.

    40 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing
    Outdoor Adventure

    Blackhawk Waterways

    No admission fee

    The official Illinois convention and visitors bureau promoting Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties in northwest Illinois.

    53 mi awayMore like this