Barbed wire field trips, booklets in the works

The cover of the Joseph F. Glidden pamphlet currently used in DeKalb elementary schools. | Image provided by DeKalb Area Agricultural Heritage Association

DeKalb Area Agricultural Heritage Association (DAAHA) is working to educate DeKalb students on the city's barbed wire barons.

Currently, DeKalb School District #428 has a booklet that teaches the district's second grade students about Joseph F. Glidden. 

"The teachers really like the format and commented that it would be nice to have one on other key DeKalb figures," said Donna Langford, DAAHA manager of operations. 

Dr. Anne Almberg of Founder's Elementary wrote one on Annie Glidden, Ellwood House wrote on Isaac Ellwood, and DAAHA volunteered to do one on Jacob Haish.

The booklets are used to meet the curriculum's English Language Arts standards, combining local history with reading and writing exercises. A grant for the schools will cover the cost of printing these materials.

A field trip is also in the works to help further students' understanding of the barbed wire barons, and funding is needed to bus students to these locations: the Ellwood House Museum, the Glidden Homestead and Historical Center, and the parking lot which was once the location of the Haish mansion.

DAAHA estimates the total cost is $4,435.31 for eight days (8 elementary schools and 22 classes) to visit these locations. A grant application has been made to help with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade busing for field trips.The busing costs for the 3rd and 4th graders is in addition to the $4,435.31.

Want to help DeKalb elementary students learn more about the founders of their very own Barb City?

Monetary donations are needed to make these field trips happen each year, so hopefully the second grade classes can take this field trip each fall. 

Any size donation is appreciated for the second grade field trips and will help the grant funds go further for the 3rd and 4th graders. DAAHA is a 501(c)3 and can provide thank you letters to each donor to document the donation to a charitable organization. 

Donations can be sent by mail to:

DAAHA

111 South Second St.

Suite 204

DeKalb, IL 60115

Please specify that your donation is to help fund the second grade field trips.

For more information, email daaha.inc@gmail.com or call 815-756-8737.

Jacob Haish portrait dedication

Remember the story of Jacob Haish's larger than life portrait? The portrait once hung in the Haish mansion in DeKalb, before it was demolished in 1961. Local lore tells us that shortly before the home's demolition, the portrait was salvaged by Haish's "brothers" -- his fellow Masonic Lodge members.

The portrait has hung in the lodge for decades, but was recently moved to Founders Memorial Library at Northern Illinois University. There, it has been joined with images of Haish's fellow barbed wire barons, Isaac Ellwood and Joseph Glidden, to create the Founders Gallery. The gallery is located on the first floor of the college's library.

A dedication ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 9, at Founders Memorial Library, DeKalb. Local historian Steve Bigolin will speak about the history of DeKalb's founding fathers, including Haish. Refreshments will be served. Hope to see you there!

Flyer provided by Northern Illinois University Archives & Regional History Center

Memories of the Jacob Haish mansion event

Detail of Jacob Haish mansion | Photo provided by Roger Alexander

From J.F. Glidden Homestead and Historical Center:

Go beyond imagining or remembering a seemingly lost DeKalb landmark.
At 2 p.m. on September 9 at the Glidden Homestead, Jessi Haish LaRue will give a presentation on inventor, manufacturer, and DeKalb benefactor Jacob Haish’s ornate mansion. She will explore the house from construction to demolition and where some items ended up. LaRue, a Haish family descendant, is a writer who blogs regularly about Jacob Haish at JacobHaishStory.com. The blog shares photos, interviews and news articles which relate to Haish's life. LaRue has been documenting her 4th great uncle's story since early 2016 in an attempt to spread the story of the "underdog of barbed wire."
The scale model of the home from NIU’s Regional History Center will also be on view. People who remember the house are invited to come out and share their memories.
“The Haish house was an important historical site that seems lost to us,” says Rob Glover, executive director of Glidden Homestead. “But Jessi offers a rare chance to go beyond imagining or remembering the house. Visitors will be able to examine photos of the house over time and see the model of it to get a 360 degree view.”
Haish is renowned for his “S barb” patented in 1875.
Jacob Haish was born March 9, 1827, in Germany and came to America in 1835 when he was nine years old. In his youth, he learned the carpentry trade from his father and “possessed natural mechanical ingenuity and displayed ready aptitude in the use of tools.” At 19, he moved to Illinois and then to DeKalb in 1853 where he entered the lumber business. He built many of the city’s most notable buildings, past and present, including the Glidden Homestead.
His first barbed wire patent is dated January 20, 1874. His “S barb” was patented August 31, 1875. He followed these with many later designs for wire and other innovative devices.
Also on Sunday, you can tour the home where Joseph Glidden and his family lived when he created his most famous invention, see a working onsite blacksmith shop, and walk where Glidden walked. Joseph Glidden developed barbed wire in DeKalb in 1873 and went on to patent numerous other inventions. Glidden’s brick barn, where an archaeological excavation has taking place, can be considered the monument for the invention of barbed wire, a symbol of innovation in the Midwest, the workshop of an iconic inventor. Programs at Glidden Homestead are made possible in part by the Mary E. Stevens Concert and Lecture Fund.
A full season of programs highlighting “Time Machine” continues at the Glidden Homestead in 2018. A program listing can be found at http://www.gliddenhomestead .org/events.html. The Glidden Homestead, located at 921 W Lincoln Hwy, is open Tuesdays 10-2 or by special arrangement. Admission is $4 per adult and free for children younger than 14. For more information, visit www.gliddenhomestead.org or e-mail info@gliddenhomestead.org or call (815) 756-7904.