National Historic Landmark · Galesburg, Illinois

Old Main, Knox College

United States historic place in Galesburg, Illinois. Added to the National Register in 1966, and a National Historic Landmark.

Open to visit National Historic Landmark Listed 1966Charles Ulricson

Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 2 in the Commons category

What it is

Old Main is the oldest building on the campus of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Completed in 1857, it is a distinctive Gothic Tudor design of Swedish architect Charles Ulricson. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 as one of the few surviving sites to host one of the famous 1858 Lincoln–Douglas debates. The building underwent a major restoration in the 1930s, which modernized its interior and restored its exterior.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Property type	Building
Address	Knox College campus, Galesburg, IL
County	Knox County
Listed	Oct 15, 1966
Listed for	Politics and government
Level of significance	National
Reference number	66000323
Architect	Charles Ulricson
Type of place	university building
Designations	National Historic Landmark
Contributing resources	1 building

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Address	Knox College campus, Galesburg, IL
Coordinates	40.9434° N, 90.3707° W · Directions ↗
Nearest national park unit	Herbert Hoover National Historic Site · 71 miles · on Park Atlas

This one you can go inside. Hours and admission change with the season; the website above has the current schedule.

At a glance

State: Illinois
County: Knox County
Listed: 1966
Type: Building
Landmark: Yes
Architect: Charles Ulricson

Cell signal

Verizon: 5G (fast)
AT&T: 5G (fast)
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Map

Nearby in Knox County

All listings in Knox County →

Building · 0.1 km

Knox College Alumni Hall

BuildingListed 1976

Building · 0.4 km

Meetinghouse of the Central Congregational Church

Knox County Courthouse and Hall of Records

BuildingListed 1992

Guidebooks to historic places and travel in Illinois

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Looking for Lincoln in Illinois
Erika Holst, 2018
Find at Bookshop.org
Route 66 In Springfield
Cheryl Jett, 2010
Find at Bookshop.org
Cemeteries of Illinois
Hal Hassen and Dawn Cobb, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Old Main, Knox College listed on the National Register?

Oct 15, 1966. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

Who designed Old Main, Knox College?

Charles Ulricson.

Source: Wikidata

Can I visit Old Main, Knox College?

Yes. Old Main, Knox College is recorded as open to the public.

Source: Wikidata

Where is Old Main, Knox College?

Knox College campus, Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois. The nearest national park unit is Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, 71 miles away.

Source: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Where is the nomination form for Old Main, Knox College?

The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.

Source: National Archives

Is there cell service at Old Main, Knox College?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 66000323. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.