President Ulysses Grant Home Galena IL – September 2021 President Ulysses Grant, our 18th president, from 1869-1877, lived in this house with his wife Julia after he retired from the army (before the Civil War). He lived here before and after the war. After he left the presidency, he lived in New York City. The house is open for public tours, but we were there early and it was not open yet. Belvedere Mansion, built in 1857, considered the finest mansion in Galena. (Nothing to do with Grant, but it is significant to Galena IL).