Amongst the 21st century architecture and thriving businesses of Lincoln Highway lies a tucked-away household that offers a glimpse into the history of DeKalb.

The Joseph F. Glidden house, located at 921 W. Lincoln Highway, originally was built in 1861 by Joseph Farwell Glidden for means of pursuing his life as a midwest farmer. Glidden and his wife Lucinda lived in the household for almost 15 years before Joseph owned and operated a hotel in downtown DeKalb that burnt down years ago.

Great niece of Joseph and Lucinda, Jessie Glidden, said the history behind the house is interesting.

“Joseph made the house out of bricks made from the Kishwaukee River,” Glidden said. “Fascinating things happened in this house, such as Joseph inventing the barbed wire, and their daughter, Elva, being married on the porch with the music of the then DeKalb City Band.”

The invention of barbed wire stems from a light-hearted story in which Lucinda suspected Elva of stealing her hairpins. One evening, Joseph pulled two of the hairpins out of his pocket in front of his family and bent them in opposite directions. When asked by Lucinda what he was doing with her hairpins, Joseph said he was looking into an idea he had regarding the invention of a new type of fence.

From this came the invention of a special type of barbed wire, the “winner,” said Linda Schwarz, president of the board of directors of the Joseph F. Glidden Homestead and Historical Center.

“Inside the barn, which served as his office, Joseph invented one of the most popular types of barbed wire,” Schwarz said. “At the time, barbed wire fencing was very important in order to maintain livestock and property.”

The barn itself is part of an extensive renovation plan the board of directors have instituted in order to restore the house and its property back to its original 1870s form.

With the help of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, the DeKalb City Community Foundation, Sen. Brad Burzynski and Rep. David Wirsing, the board hopes to have complete restoration complete sometime toward the end of 2003. By then, the board anticipates the doors opening again for tourists and students, said Kathy Siebrasse, spokeswoman for the Joseph F. Glidden Homestead and Historical Center

“We hope to redesign the inside and the porch to the way it was when first built,” Siebrasse said.

A few of the attractions included in the house will be geared toward the historical importance of the Glidden family and its impact on the city of DeKalb, Schwarz said.

“We hope to put up interactive exhibits inside the barns to further display the history of the barn and the barbed wire,” Schwarz said. “We also plan to develop an architectural center on the second story of the house with genealogical materials and the history of the family accessible to DeKalb residents.”

Plans are being finalized to demolish a raised walkway that shelters an underground tunnel leading from the house to the backyard barn. Also, the entire property landscape is expected to be restored as best as possible to its original form, which would require getting rid of anything else built on the property after Joseph’s departure in the mid-1870s.

Schwarz summed up the efforts by describing how Joseph Glidden and the history made in DeKalb is important to understanding his overall impact. “This house doesn’t just represent the history of DeKalb, but also history of the west and the nation.”