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Barbed Wire Manufacturing 1837-1938

CITY:

DeKalb

COUNTY:

DeKalb

DEDICATED BY:

The Illinois State Historical Society

DEDICATION DATE:

January 1, 1955 at 6:00:00 AM

The marker is located in DeKalb, in front of the Glidden Home at 931 West Lincoln Highway (IL Route 38).

This house, built in 1861, was the home of Joseph Glidden, who in 1873 invented barbed wire fencing. With Phineas W. Vaughn he perfected a machine to manufacture it. DeKalb was the home of
Isaac L. Ellwood and Jacob Haish, also manufacturers of barbed wire. Haish developed the S-barb. DeKalb became the manufacturing center for barbed wire, significant in the development of the west.

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