Nearly twenty years ago, the Galesburg Downtown Council (GDC) Board of Directors acknowledged that there was a need to establish and maintain an open line of communication with property owners in the

John Schlaf President

 downtown Special Service Area.  To that end the Council created the "Downtown Digest" which was designed to provide a source of "condensed, comprehensive, systematic information by and for the folks of downtown Galesburg" as noted by then GDC Executive Director Perry Denker.

 

The core message of the GDC has been the same since its inception in 1973:  "promoting the development of Downtown Galesburg through business retention and acquisition, marketing, landscape improvement and maintenance, coordination of downtown activities and any other effort to advance its purpose".  The desire to remain true to the stated goal to "establish and maintain" a method to communicate the activities and accomplishments of the GDC, has led to the development of a redesigned communications format by the newly formed GDC Communications Committee.

 

The committee has created an electronic versus paper delivery coupled with a slight name change from the Downtown Digest to the Galesburg Downtown Digest. The Galesburg Downtown Digest electronic format has expanded the capability of the GDC to pass the word about the Mission and activities of the Galesburg Downtown Council to more than simply "the folks" of Downtown Galesburg. The new Galesburg Downtown Digest can be accessed by not only those in the downtown area but by interested persons throughout Galesburg, the region, the state and anywhere with Internet access. 

 

Our message remains the same to each and every

 person who may visit the Chamber of Commerce website (www.galesburg.org/downtown_council) where our  current information is, read our electronic newsletter, or trade Facebook posts. If you feel proud about this place each of us calls home, then our message has reached you.

 

Galesburg, Illinois: It's a great place we love to live, we would love to have you visit; we would love for you to stay.   

During 1972 the Chicago-based 

Kenroy Corporation announced plans to establish an enclosed shopping mall in the northwest quadrant of Galesburg. Soon thereafter a group of Downtown business managers and property owners obtained a consulting firm to determine the effects the shopping mall would have on the central Downtown business district.

In 1973 a group of Downtown business, professional and property owners formed the Galesburg Downtown Council. The initial goal of the Downtown Council was to implement a massive renovation of the Downtown central business area to improve its viability. Physical improvements to building facades, increased parking and landscape enhancements were included in the package.

 

The Bondi family came to Galesburg in 1896 after meeting George Ferris, the inventor of the Ferris Wheel, at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.  Ferris persuaded the Bondi Brothers to open a dry goods store in Galesburg. In 1927 Kline's Department Store bought Bondi Brothers Dry Good Store for $300,000.00 and a twenty year lease in a building to be built on the corner of Kellogg and Main Street in Galesburg, Illinois.

 

 

What started out as a small investment in Downtown Galesburg has evolved into a multi- building and multi-million dollar revitalization
project for MAK Properties of Illinois.  Formed in 2010, MAK Properties, owned by Mark and Jeannette Kleine, is a property development and management company whose goal is to purchase and restore downtown property and encourage business opportunities in the downtown area.   The support and financial assistance from the City and the Galesburg Downtown Council Façade Grant Program was an important part of our decision in taking on a project such as 246 Main St.  Most recently known as the building where Ducky's Formal wear and CII embroidery were located, the building is now occupied by commercial businesses and residential loft-style apartments.