Markers at the 4 corners of the original town of Galesburg

The land of Galesburg was first purchased by Reverend George Washington Gale in 1835 to create an abolitionist society and work college out west. While the very first settlement of Galesburg in 1836 was not within the original city boundaries they did this because they wanted proper buildings built within the city and not houses made of logs so they set up a camp north of the city. As permanent residences were set up and the original camp burning down the town began to grow steadily until the townspeople contributed to bring the railroad through Galesburg which led to the town continuing to grow and thrive beyond the original city borders. This goes into how strongly the townspeople felt about the new community they were creating and the lofty goals and ambitions they had for it even in the early days. These boundary markers that are currently up today and were erected in 1987 through various sources act as a remembrance of where this town started from its humble beginnings into what we all take advantage of today. It exemplifies the myths of those early settlers and those during those early times and all the stories, hardship, victories, shortcoming and connections made in the founding of Galesburg. Those stories make who and what the town is today and while some may be true and some not so much, however these markers bring us back to the points where those early settlers where and the stories of the start of a town.