Galena Post Office

Built in 1858 of Navoo limestone, the imposing structure in the foreground is the U.S. Post Office and Customhouse, still the second oldest continuously owned and operated post office in the United States. The Renaissance Revival style used by architect Ammi B. Young was the first standardized style to be used throughout the country by the U.S. government. The superintendent of construction was engineer Ely S. Parker, a Native American with the Seneca nation who was raised on a reservation in western New York State. The post office sits at the corner of Green and Commerce streets in Galena. And on one of Galena's signature hillsides in the background is the old Galena High School, built in 1905 after the previous school burned. Its use discontinued in 1980, the school was sold and converted to condominiums. Located at 411 S. Prospect St., this red brick building in the Richardsonian Romanesque style dominates Galena's skyline.