Galva, Illinois

Galva
City
Nickname: City of Go
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Henry
Coordinates	41°10′0″N 90°2′32″W / 41.16667°N 90.04222°W / 41.16667; -90.04222Coordinates: 41°10′0″N 90°2′32″W / 41.16667°N 90.04222°W / 41.16667; -90.04222
Area	2.86 sq mi (7 km2)
- land	2.86 sq mi (7 km2)
- water	0.00 sq mi (0 km2)
Population	2,589 (2010)
Density	1,609.5/sq mi (621/km2)
Timezone	CST (UTC-6)
- summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Postal code	61434
Area code	309
Location of Galva within Illinois

Galva is a city in Henry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,589 at the 2010 census, down from 2,758 in 2000.

Cousins William L. Wiley (1820-1900) and James Wiley (1817-1886) founded Galva in 1854. The name Galva honors the Swedish immigrants of nearby Bishop Hill and refers to Gävle, Sweden which is the town's sister city. Today around 80% of the town has Scandinavian ancestry.

Galva was a railroad town. Galva was laid out along the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (Burlington Route) with the help of Bishop Hill trustees who invested heavily in Galva. This was the first of three rail line to locate there. This group was formed in 1852 and ran a line from Aurora, Illinois to Galesburg, Illinois. A second branch of the Burlington Route later also came through. Later the Peoria and Rock Island Railroad (Rock Island Railroad) came through Galva.

According to the 2010 census, Galva has a total area of 2.86 square miles (7.41 km²), all land.

As of the 2000 census, there were 2,758 people, 1,164 households, and 740 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,609.5 people per square mile (622.7/km²). There were 1,266 housing units at an average density of 738.8 per square mile (285.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.59% White, 0.25% African American, 0.22% Native American, 0.11% Asian, 0.33% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.96% of the population.