Her name is as familiar as your own. Students meet there every day.

Annie Glidden Road is a common path for students, vehicles and local business, but have you ever thought about how the road got its name?

Annie Glidden was an award-winning farmer in DeKalb. She was born in 1865 and died in 1965.

Glen Gildemeister, director of the university’s Regional History Center, said Glidden created some impressive gardens in the area. She studied agriculture at Cornell University and her gardens and produce were the talk of DeKalb.

She also was the niece of Joseph Glidden, a sheriff for DeKalb County known as “the grand old man of DeKalb County.” He is credited with the invention of barbed wire.

On Oct. 10, 1999, a mural featuring Annie Glidden, painted by muralist Olivia Gude, was dedicated to the city of DeKalb. The portrait depicted Annie as an active, confident woman in her 60s, Gude said, and was based on old photographs. Annie is painted next to a 48-foot-tall cornstalk.

In 2000, this mural was honored by former Illinois Gov. George Ryan with the award for Excellence in Downtown Revitalization. In the mural, what appears to be a floral-patterned dress that Annie is wearing actually is a pattern made from barbed wire and corn.

Gildemeister said Glidden still has family living in DeKalb. Jessie Glidden, her niece, and Charles Bradt, her nephew, both are in their nineties.