Galena, Illinois called Galena "La Pointe" and early Americans adopted this name as "The Point". Early documentation officially records the name as "Fever River", an early name for the Galena River, though it does not appear that this name was commonly used. George Davenport, a retired colonel in the United States Army, successfully shipped Galena's first boatload of lead ore down the Mississippi River in 1816. Three years later, Jesse W. Shull built a trading post. The Thomas H. January family, who arrived in 1821 from Maysville, Kentucky, are considered the first permanent American settlers. The next year, the US Department of
Galena, Missouri Galena, Missouri Galena is a city in Stone County, Missouri, United States. The population was 440 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stone County. Galena is part of the Branson, Missouri Micropolitan Statistical Area. Galena was platted in 1852, and named for deposits of the ore galena near the original town site. An early variant name was "Jamestown". A post office has been in operation at Galena since 1853. The last public execution in the United States took place in Galena in 1937. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area