PEORIA MAGAZINE January 2023

Galesburg Mayor Peter Schwartzman

visitors to attractions such as the shops and restaurants along historic Seminary Street, brew pubs, the mag nificently restored Orpheum Theatre, the Lincoln-Douglas debate site at Knox College, and the boyhood home of Pulitzer prize-winning poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg. The Discovery Depot Children’s Museum draws thousands from across Illinois, as does the Galesburg Railroad Museum. Some visitors arrive by car, while others travel to and from their adventures on Amtrak, which has multiple arrivals and departures daily. Locals and visitors to this resilient city of 30,000 support a vibrant arts scene, several coffee shops, boutiques and dining experiences both casual and gourmet. The calendar is packed with festivals and events, including September’s National Stearman Fly In, which has attracted thousands of enthusiasts for the World War II-era Stearman biplanes since 1971. Thousands queue up each year for the Chocolate Festival, Carl Sandburg Days, the Rootabaga Jazz Festival, the Great Balloon Race and other events. The city has plans for an outdoor music and performance venue onMain Street in a space currently occupied by giant yellow letters spelling out “Galesburg.” Amid all of this coming and going, there is a vision for the future. “Galesburg is a great place to live,” said first-term Mayor Peter Schwartzman. “It’s safe, easily walkable and the housing prices and cost of living are competitive with anywhere else in the country.

“Our biggest challenge is capturing people’s optimism and putting it into practice.” BIG PLANS Optimism and action abound at the $20 million library project at Main and Academy Streets. After nearly a decade of planning, the project broke ground in April 2022 and is expected to open in late 2023. In addition, the city has contributed $1 million to the National Railroad Hall of Fame, a decades-long, nationally sanctioned initiative to build a state of-the-art museum in Galesburg. Along with plans for a new multi purpose community center, the city has a five-year strategic plan that addresses population growth, educational achievement, public safety, the “unhoused” and renewable energy. There is even a goal to plant 400 trees — and they are already ahead of the five-year pace. Schwartzman said initiatives such as a $15million, community-wide upgrade to fiber optic broadband internet will play a critical role in attracting new businesses and families. Once the infrastructure is in place, the city will be the perfect home for e-commuters and technology businesses, he said. BNSF Railway dominates the con ventional employment picture today, with Blick Art Materials, one of the largest distributors of art products and supplies in the country (founded in Galesburg in 1911) close behind. Health

care at OSF St. Mary Medical Center and other providers, and District 205 schools are also dominant employers. In today’s economy, diversification is the key. “We can’t put all of our eggs in one basket,” Schwartzman said. ‘OUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS CAPTURING PEOPLE'S OPTIMISM AND PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE’ — Peter Schwartzman Three hundred acres of city-owned farmland along I-74 known as Logistics Park has beenmostly empty for 20 years. But Schwartzman said it is “beginning to get some traction.” A number of projects are in the works, including a 40-acre solar array installation. THE HEART OF THE CITY “Downtown is the real heart of the city,” said Phil Dickinson, owner of Landmark Café and Creperie in the historic Seminary Street District. He is an unabashed supporter of continuing the emphasis on downtown economic development. “We have a well-developed downtown now, but it hasn’t been easy or fast and it is always in flux,” he said. “If downtown is not heavily retail it will wither, and that’s not healthy for the community.” “Resilient” is how Pam Gaither, executive director of theGalesburgArea Chamber of Commerce, characterizes Galesburg’s entrepreneurial spirit.

JANUARY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 51