The population fell steadily from the 1950s until an enterprising mayor in the 1980s, Frank Einsweiler, decided to emphasise its tourist attractions. The boarded-up old houses on Main Street were refurbished – and a seedy downtown became a charming nineteenth-century vintage attraction virtually overnight. Soon a variety of restaurants and retailers of handicrafts, as well as purveyors of luxury goods, opened on and around Main Street, adding to tourist interest and local jobs. The town also emphasised its links with the famous Union Civil War general and United States president Ulysses S.
The population fell steadily from the 1950s until an enterprising mayor in the 1980s, Frank Einsweiler, decided to emphasise its tourist attractions. The boarded-up old houses on Main Street were refurbished – and a seedy downtown became a charming nineteenth-century vintage attraction virtually overnight. Soon a variety of restaurants and retailers of handicrafts, as well as purveyors of luxury goods, opened on and around Main Street, adding to tourist interest and local jobs. The town also emphasised its links with the famous Union Civil War general and United States president Ulysses S. Grant, who worked in his family tannery and leather-goods shop in Galena before leaving for the war. On his victorious return in 1865, he was presented a brick house, which is now an important historical attraction in Galena. An annual county craft fair started bringing in thousands of visitors, and in 2010 a Vision 2020 campaign began implementing new ideas for the future vitality of the town. Many Chicagoans now own second homes in Galena, and in 2011, TripAdvisor listed Galena among its top-ten ‘Charming Small Towns’. Even though a number of venerable downtown pharmacies and grocery stores have closed, Galena’s population has stabilised. Many residents now have jobs in the tourist industry. Galena’s example is worth noting because many examples of revival center around new technologies. Galena’s does not. Indeed, in every developing country I visit, some ministry is putting together a...
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Galena is such a good case study
