When Galesburg celebrated its 100^th birthday in 1937, a total of twenty markers were placed in the downtown area. Six of the markers honored the men for whom the original streets were named. Each man was active in the selection of the site and establishment of Galesburg and Knox College.

The streets laid out by Nehemiah H. Losey (1804-1875) are the same ones we travel today. Losey had been on the faculty of the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry, a school started by George Washington Gale at Whitesboro, New York, in 1827.

Since Losey held an A.M. in mathematics from Middlebury College, he was the logical person to stake out the new village of Galesburg. He was appointed as deputy county surveyor to insure that the plat would be legal. The original land purchase had been surveyed in order to receive proper title from the federal land office in Quincy.

The next step was to survey and mark the streets of the proposed village. The main east-west street was, of course, Main Street. And the central north-south street was called Broad Street. A public square was established at the intersection of those two streets.

Three streets were laid out from the Public Square in each direction. The area covered 160 acres. The pattern was a fairly common one of straight lines and right angles. When the railroad was built in the mid-1850s, it slashed through the town on a diagonal line.

The boundary on the north was named North Street. The one just below it was named Waters. Reverend John Waters (1775-1861) was one of the two clergymen who followed Gale to the West. He was a retired Presbyterian minister and highly respected by the members of the Gale Colony. Waters presided at the early meetings of the subscribers to the Gale Plan. He was elected to the provisional Board of Trustees of the Prairie College (later named Knox College).

Silvanus Ferris (1773-1861) was 66 years old when he arrived on the prairie with his family. He had been a dairyman and cheesemaker in Herkimer County, New York. The Illinois Domain Public Land Tract Sales lists 57 parcels purchased in his name in Knox County.

Ferris became the sales agent for the lands allotted to the college. He spent a great deal of time collecting payments, assigning lots and exchanging parcels when buyers changed their minds. His business knowledge was a very useful asset to the Colony.

Hiram H. Kellogg (1803-1881) was the second clergyman to join Gale on his western crusade. In Clinton, New York, he had established a Young Ladies Domestic Seminary, a manual labor school. The students rotated work and study in four departments: Clothes, House, Cooking and Dishes. Black young women were admitted to the school which was quite unusual for the time.

Simmons Street, south of Main Street, was named in honor of Thomas Simmons (1790-1867). He was a member of the Purchasing committee which selected the acreage where the Gale Colony would settle. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Knox College.

The next street south was named for Samuel Tompkins (1793-1872), a friend of Thomas Simmons. He was a cobbler from Hamilton, New York.

West Street was located two block west of the Public Square. It was named for Nehemiah West (1800-1847). He was a farmer from Ira, New York. He led the first company to settle in Log City north of the future location of Galesburg.

The streets on the east and west edges were named Seminary and Academy. The pioneers hoped to establish educational institutions on those streets. Within twenty years Galesburg had outgrown its original boundaries.

In the 1880s and 1890s when Carl Sandburg was growing up he became very familiar with the streets of Galesburg. He walked them every day in order to save the price of streetcar fare.