The home was given to Grant by residents of Galena in 1865 as thanks for his war service, and has been maintained as a memorial to Grant since 1904. A statue of First Lady Julia Grant was placed on the grounds of the Grant Home and dedicated in 2006. A statue of U.S. Grant stands in Galena's Grant Park, which is visible from the grounds.

The U.S. Grant Home State Historic Site is owned by the state of Illinois and managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as a historic house museum with rooms furnished to represent a mid-1860s appearance. Many of the furnishings belonged to the Grant family. Tours are given by interpreters dressed in period costumes. Information is given about Grant's activities during the Civil War up through his presidency. An adjacent building houses exhibits about Grant and the history of the home. The Grant Home was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, upon that program's inception.