Front of US Marine Hospital, Galena, Illinois, before porches were removed

In 1798, the Marine Hospital Fund was signed into law by President John Adams, precipitating the construction of a series of maritime hospitals.  The first of these healthcare facilities were established on the ocean, later they would be established on America's waterways - the super highways of the nineteenth century.  The purpose was to care for "Merchant Marines," as seamen were called, and had nothing to do with the US Marine Corps.

In 1858, work began on the US Marine Hospital in Galena, Illinois.  Participating in the construction was Ely Parker, full-blooded Seneca who had ventured from New York to oversee the construction of the US Customs House and Post Office.  He would go on to become one of Galena's nine Civil War generals, and would pen the terms of surrender at Appomattox Court House April 9, 1865.

The hospital was opened in 1861, but would be closed in 1868 as the Galena River became less and less navigable - while boats grew and grew in size.  It was later used as a German-English school and later a sanitarium.  It stood mostly empty for most of the 20th century, abandoned and forgotten in the woods just outside of town.

Ghostly apparitions are seen walking about the property

It is not known how many died at the hospital/sanitarium, but many apparitions have been seen by locals over the years.  Visions of patients peering out the windows, wandering around the grounds, and sounds of doors slamming have been reported by trespassers through the years.  The site is privately owned and the owners plan to restore the hospital, repurposed as a three suite inn with an interpretive center.

Front door in the background, iron stairway on left