For many locals, the name of Annie Glidden is thrown around as often as the frisbees in the residence hall hallways. But who is this mysterious woman, and why is she important to DeKalb?

From what research I gathered, Annie Glidden lived between 1865 and 1962. She is the niece of Joseph Glidden, the man who invented barbed wire. She attended NIU when she was in her 60s and was, allegedly, a very good farmer. There is a mural of her painted on the corner of First Street and Lincoln Highway as well as a road named after her.

Why the mural is not on the road that was named after her is as much of a mystery as to why she even had the road named after her.

From what I have ascertained, DeKalb is proud of two things: corn and barbed wire. It seems our beloved Annie was involved with both of these things, as well as the university which resides in the town.

It is a brilliant decision to focus our adoration on someone related to the person that invented barbed wire, rather than the inventor himself. It is also a wise move to ignore the slaughtered indigenous people of the area that once grew corn out here as well.

On the subject of the mural which so boldly displays a likeness of Annie Glidden, I feel it is my duty to inform you this was an artist’s interpretation of what Annie may have looked like. It seems there are no pictures of her in her 60s and this was the best guess we came up with. A guess which, not to poke fun at the artist because the mural is well-made, features Annie as an androgenous human being. As a student of NIU for three years and someone who has seen this mural many times, I will admit I was shocked to discover this picture was not of a man.

The other homage to Annie is the famous Annie Glidden Road. A simple north/south road that cuts through the heart of NIU’s campus, a bunch of apartments, and many fields with Davis School Road at one end and a toll booth at the other. Annie Glidden, representative of our fair city, turned into a tool for both capitalism and administrative bureaucracy.

Let us take a moment to share in our knowledge of such an important figure in DeKalb history as Annie Glidden. Let us be reminded every time we look up on her chilling visage on First Street that it is not a man. Let us take notice the next time we drive to Starbusters that we are, in fact, driving on top of Annie Glidden.

Run her over with pride for she is a small and distant part of all our history.

Views expressed in this weekly humor column do not necessarily reflect the Northern Star or its staff. Send questions or comments to [email protected].