Historical tours of DeKalb’s Glidden Homestead, 921 W. Lincoln Highway, encourage the community to learn and appreciate the contributions of the Glidden family to DeKalb.

The Glidden Homestead and Historical Center was open for public tours of the home and blacksmith shop from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The Glidden family has played a large role in DeKalb’s history and development. The Gliddens lived in the home from 1861 until 1998, when the last Glidden family member registered it as a historical site.

“We are pretty new in the museum world as we became one in about 1998,” said Marcia Wilson, Glidden Homestead and Historical Center executive director. “Before the last Glidden left, she got the house and barn listed on the National Register of Historic Places.”

The Historical Center houses the Glidden home with a blacksmith’s shop in the back. Although much of the original house was deteriorating, it was restored to tell the Glidden story for tours.

“I have been doing this for 36 years, and two years with this group,” said Joe Marsala, a horseshoe blacksmith in Sycamore. “I make horse shoes for, predominantly, stables or private places in Barrington Hills, St. Charles and Elgin.”

Along with the tour of the home and the blacksmith shop, tourists also enjoyed performances from the Kishwaukee Valley Barbershop chorus, which is made up of 15 members ranging in age from teens to 70 years old.

“It is fun and I enjoy singing for a community audience,” said Howard Peterson, a member of the chorus.