USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > The voters and tax-payers of De Kalb County, Illinois; containing, also, a biographical directory a history of the county and state, map of the county, a business directory, an abstract of every-day laws > Part 12
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Prominent among the new public buildings of the city is Winn's elegant new hotel of pressed brick, with elegant stone trimmings. It is a structure of which any of the minor cities of the country might be proud, and one that few or none of them can surpass.
A little further west on State Street will be seen the graceful spire of the new Universalist Church, a brick building of elegant design and substantial construction, which is an ornament to the city. Its inte- rior is beautifully finished in Gothic style, with stained glass windows and frescoed walls. Its cost will exceed that of any other church in DeKalb County.
Among the useful new industrial works in the city is the spacious brick factory buildings of the R. Ellwood Manufacturing Company. They are a fine looking group of buildings, and furnish a valuable addi- tion to the business of the city, giving employment to over fifty work- men now, a number that will soon be considerably increased.
Another new factory, completed early in the Spring, is the sash and blind factory of Mr. F. Schroeder & Son. It is a spacious and well- planned wooden structure, two stories in height, and its machinery is of the best and most elaborate kind. It has been full of work ever since it was put in operation, and has drawn a large amount of business to the city.
Mr. Charles T. Stuart's new dwelling house, erected on the site of
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
the old Erasmus Barnes place, fronting on the public square, is one of the most complete and well-finished buildings in our city. In design, taste and construction it is a model.
The site of the old Universalist Church on Main Street, is now occu- pied by a large brick dwelling house built this season by Mr. A. M. Stark, the able secretary of the Sycamore Marsh Harvester Manufactur- ing Company. It is of peculiar and very pleasing style, having the gen- eral appearance of an old English mansion or villa.
In the southern part of the city is the new dwelling house of Mr. David DeGraff, a large and beautiful building costing about $5,000. It is designed and finished in excellent taste and its beauty is enhanced by its commanding position on the summit of a knoll from which a spacious lawn, bordered with fine old trees, slopes gracefully an hundred feet to the road.
The following list, furnished by one of the contractors of this city, comprises the greater part of the buildings and their approximate value :
Winn's Hotel, - - $18,000
Universalist Church, - 12,000
R. Ellwood & Co., factory, 20,000
J. M. Southworth, store, - 2,000
A. M. Stark, house, 3.000
S. Loomis, house, -
2,000
J. Fulkerson, house and barn, - $ 700
H. H. Mason, house and barn, - 800
G. Russell, house and barn, 600
S. Mathews, house and barn, 600
S. Lackey, house, - 600
E. Tifft, house, 1,200
Wm. Phelps, house, 500
J. Hopkins, house, 500
J. Welch, house, - 600
Haley, repairs, - 600
Mrs. Jarvis, addition to
house, 600
A. R. Cameron, addition to house, - -
800
M. Painter, house, 1,200
L. Petrie, two houses, 800
G. Fox, house, 400
Mr. Henry Olin, house,
1,000
T. Arnold, house, 1,000
Rowe, house, 600
John Stevenson, house, 400
Smith, house, 1,000
Deacon Worcester, house,
1,600
Wm. Underdown, repairs, 400
F. Shroeder, factory, - 12,000
D. Marsh, addition, - 300
WV. H. Stokes, house, - 800
800
H. L. Boies, repairs and addition, - 800
C. Tewksberry, house, -
600
H. Paine, house, 2,000
800
H. Laverty, two houses and
Mrs. M. Quinn, house, - 800
Wm. Cox, house, - - barns, - 1,800
Thos. Mumford, house, -
R. B. Tewksberry, house and barn, - 1,000
1,200
A. S. Miller, house, -
1,800
WVm. Tifft, house, -
1,600
Taylor, house, - 800
C. T. Stuart, house, - 4,000
H. Briggs, store, - 800
A. Sell, store, - 1,000
1,000
G. Harrington, house, 1,200
T. Carr, house, -
Spafford Smith, house, - 1,600
J. J. Bell, house, 1,000
Geo. Knipp's six houses, 8,000
J. Ronen's house and barn, 1,100
H. M. Dodge, house, -
J. C. Waterman, house, 1,500
D. DeGraff, honse, - 4,500
A. Johnson, house, 1,000
A. Ingmanson, house, 1,500
Mr. Wm. Graham, house, - 1,500
F. M. Robinson, house and barn, 500
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
The contractor further says :
Besides the above, there are six or eight houses in the vicinity of Charles Street, the owners of which I do not know, also four or five in the north part of town, they are worth in the aggregate about $10,000 or $12,000, and some I presume I overlooked. There has also been much building done in the vicinity outside of the city. Capt. Luther is now building himself a fine residence. Mr. Fogg is building another large house on his lot. The Harvester Factory has also made large additions to their buildings.
MANUFACTURES.
Besides the minor manufacturing interests, such as planing mills, cheese-box factory, etc., the two most important branches are the Culti- vator Manufactory of R. Ellwood & Co., and the Marsh Harvester Works -both of which add largely to the business of the place.
The R. Ellwood Manufacturing Company-Was established in 1875. The company manufacture the Ellwood Sulky Cultivator, Barn-Door Hangers and Tracks, Stay-Rolls, Wire-Stretchers, Dog and Horse Powers, Pivot Castors, Rolling Colters, etc., and do general repairing, having foundry and machine shops. Their building is three stories, including basement. and cost about $20,000. Their business per annum amounts to $125,000. This year they expect to turn out and put upon the market 3.000 of their new and popular cultivators. As yet they have not been able to manufacture enough to supply the demand.
The business is controlled by R. Ellwood, who also carries on hard- ware business to the amount of $70,000 per annum.
The Marsh Harvester Manufacturing Company .- This now extensive manufacturing interest was established as a joint stock company in 1869. Its officers are : C. W. Marsh, President ; A. M. Stark, Secretary ; and W. W. Marsh, Superintendent. The brothers Marsh are old settlers of the county, having resided in it twenty-seven years. They first estab- lished their shops in Plano, Kendall County, in 1863, whence they removed to their present locality in 1869. Their shops here are extensive, being of briek, 640 feet in length, and in the main two stories high. They cost, including ground and machinery, $50,000. The capital stock of the company is $90,000, and about $300,000 invested in the business. In 1875 they manufactured 4,000 harvesters. Last year they built and sold 3,500, besides a large number of wind-mills, mowers and corn-plows.
Mr. C. W. Marsh represented the district composed of DeKalb, Kane and DuPage Counties in the State Senate in 1870.
MASONIC.
Sycamore Commandery. Knights Templars. Royal Arch Chapter. Sycamore Lodge, No. 134.
ODD-FELLOWS.
Ellwood Encampment. Sycamore Lodge, No. 105.
111
HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
DEKALB.
The township of DeKalb is situated near the center of the county, and is second to no other in its natural advantages and in its develop- ment and growth in wealth. The surface, like the remainder of the county, is mostly handsome rolling prairie ; but is favored with one fine stream, a branch of the Kishwaukee, and is liberally supplied with timber from an extensive grove bordering on this stream, formerly known far and wide as Huntley's Grove.
There was, prior to the first settlement, a large Indian village at Coltonville, on the northern border of this township, but in the Fall of 1835 the Indians were removed beyond the Mississippi. It is said that a company of United States troops, engaged in assembling these Indians at Paw Paw Grove, preparatory to their removal, encamped for a night on the site of the present city of DeKalb. While here one of their number attempted to desert. He paid McClellan, a settler at the grove, a sum of money to secrete him, but McClellan, being threatened by the officer in command, gave him up, and he was tied to the rear of an army wagon and dragged on foot through the remainder of the route. The neighbors, indignant at MeClellan's treachery, threatened to lynch him, and he was obliged to fly the country for safety.
FIRST SETTLERS OF DEKALB TOWNSHIP.
The first settlers of this township were John B. Collins and Norman C. Moore. Mr. Collins settled on the farm now owned by the heirs of the late Captain Burpee ; Mr. Moore made a claim a mile or two north of him. They came in the Spring of 1835. During that Summer all the timbered land in the township was claimed. McClellan claimed the south end of the grove afterwards held by Mr. Huntley. James Cox claimed a farm now owned by C. W. Marsh, and James Paisley the place on which some of his family now reside.
In the Autumn of 1835, Messrs. Jenks & Co. claimed the land now occupied by Albert Schrever, dammed the creek, built a mill, and pro- jected a town in the vicinity. The streams were much larger then than now, and it was thought that the water would be of permanent value ; but a dry Summer or two convinced them of their mistake, and they never completed their proposed village.
In the Autumn of 1836 the first election in the county was held. It was held in Captain Eli Barnes' house, in the township of DeKalb, and the voters came from all parts of the county. It was an election for Justice of the Peace. Mr. Samuel Miller, of Squaw Grove, relates that ten dollars were sent down to him by one of the candidates to pay him for bringing up ten voters, and that these ten voters carried the election.
In February, 1837, Mr. Russell Huntley, representing a company of capitalists, who designed to build mills and carry on farming, moved to the south end of the grove, and bought the claim of James Root, who had succeeded Mcclellan. Wild-cat money was plenty then, and claims sold at higher prices than they would bring ten years after. Mr. Huntley bought all of the south part of the grove, paying $5,300 to the several claimants. His purchase embraced about 500 acres of wood land, and as much of the prairie as he chose to call his own. As it seemed desirable,
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
however, that each should know where his line was, he made an agree- ment with the Brodies, of Brodies' Grove, about ten miles west of him, that the division line between them should be half way between the two groves ; and he made a similar verbal arrangement with the inhabitants of Shabbona Grove on the south.
After the first two years, settlers came in very rarely. Hard times came on, money became very searee, the people grew poor ; and in 1843, when the land, for the claims to which they had paid such liberal prices, came in market, most of them found great difficulty in raising the money to enter it. As late as 1850, Mr. Huntley was offering half of the land upon which DeKalb Village now stands to any man who would furnish $1.25 per acre to enter it.
VILLAGE AND CITY OF DEKALB.
For nearly twenty years Mr. Huntley kept an excellent tavern at this place, and in the busy season it was constantly crowded by teamsters from the west, as far as the Mississippi River, who were on their way to Chicago with grain. The proceeds of the load, oftentimes, did not pay the expenses of drawing to market. For this reason, thousands of bushels of excellent wheat raised in this town were fed to cattle without threshing. This poverty among the people continued until the railroad was built through, in 1853.
In 1850 the township was organized, with the name of Orange, and Thomas M. Hopkins was chosen its first Supervisor. In that year the first store in the place was opened by J. M. Goodell, in one end of the dwelling now owned by the widow of Rufus Hopkins. In 1852, J. S. Waterman and Alvah Cartwright started another, and they, with Goodell and Ruby's store, Huntley's tavern, and a blacksmith's shop, constituted the village in 1853, when the railroad was built, revolutionizing the business affairs of the county. After this, a large and flourishing village was speedily built up at this place. Its progress was remarkable. Houses sprang up as by magie. The neighboring farmers who visited it one month would hardly recognize the place when they visited it the next. Mr. Huntley sold part of his land to three directors of the railroad com- pauy,-Holland, Robinson, and Van Nortwick,-and they together laid out the village, and speedily sold the lots at good prices. Stores, shops, warehouses, hotels, and dwellings, filled up the village plat, and the evidences of taste and refinement were to be seen in its streets and dwellings. For several years it went by the name of Buena Vista.
In 1855 its population was 557. It was confidently expected that, owing to its central location and its being upon a railroad, it would soon be made the seat of justice for the county.
The financial crash of 1857 impeded the progress of the thriving little village. Money scarce, trade dall, credit gone, prices low. Like all new towns, it was settled by a population full of enterprise, but of small capi- tal. and the destruction of confidence and depression of trade was a serious injury to its progress. But its people were full of enterprise, courage and enthusiasm for the prosperity of their town. They taxed themselves heavily for all needed improvements, and worked with a will for the good of their town.
In 1860, a County Society for the promotion of agriculture and the
113
HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
mechanical arts was established, beautiful grounds selected and hand- somely furnished, and flourishing annual fairs have ever since been held.
In 1861, the elegant brick building was erected for a Graded School, -for many years the finest common-school building in any town of its size in the state. It was designed to cost $8000, but its total expense has been over $25,000. The first school house in the town was a small structure built of basswood logs, and roofed with shakes, which stood near the grove, and near the line of the railroad, and for many years served both as school house and church.
In 1854, churches were built by both the Baptist and Methodist societies ; in 1860 the Catholics constructed a spacious church, and in 1864 the Swedish population, a large number of whom had gathered around this place, built a small church, in which worship is conducted in the Swedish form and language. A number of the most reputable citizens have embraced the Mormon faith, and the services of that sect have fre- quently been held in the place.
NEWSPAPERS.
In 1858 a newspaper under the name of the Western World and De Kalb Review was published in DeKalb by Mr. Andrews. This was succeeded in 1860 by the De Kalb Leader, edited by E. B. Gilbert ; and this in 1861 by the DeKalb Times, edited by G. D. R. Boyd. In 1867 the De Kalb County News was started. It is still published, and is an influential weekly Republican journal, L. H. Post, editor and proprietor. Mr. Post is also Postmaster of the city.
PROMINENT CITIZENS.
The first lawyer in the place was Marcus White, who commenced practice in 1855. The first resident physician was Dr. Hyslop. In 1859 Dr. Rufus Hopkins, of Sycamore, who had always had a considerable practice in that town, removed to DeKalb, and as a physician, banker and active man of business, has been a prominent actor in the affairs of the town. The first bank was established in 1859 by J. R. Hamlin and E. T. Hunt.
The four brothers, Glidden, who first settled here in 1841, have been among its most worthy and active citizens.
E. B. Gilbert, Esq., who came to Sycamore in 1847, and to DeKalb in 1852, was elected Justice in 1853, and by successive elections has ever since held the office.
Harvey Thompson, J. F. Glidden, and Jabez L. Cheasbro, have long been among the most popular and reliable grain dealers in the county.
Hon. Lewis L. McEwen served the county one term in the State Legislature, and has been an influential citizen for more than twenty years. He is a prominent man in the grain, coal and lumber business, in the firm of McEwen & Terwillegar.
Robert Roberts, the present County Treasurer, of the firm of Roberts & Tyler, is one of the old and worthy citizens.
In this connection may also be mentioned J. F. Glidden, the inven- tor of the Glidden patents for barb wire fences, and Jacob Haish, the no less enterprising inventor and manufacturer of the "S" barb wire feneing. These men have been great benefactors of the town and the
8
114
HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
farming community at large, in the want which they have met by their ingenuity and, enterprise and the large number of men and amount of capital employed in the branches of business which they have established.
The brothers Isaac L. and Hiram Ellwood, have been among its most active business men.
Isaac L. Ellwood, of the firm of I. L. Ellwood & Co., has for many years been a leading citizen. He is the proprietor of the Glidden Barb Wire Factory, having purchased the extensive business, and is also largely engaged in manufacture.
It is such enterprising men as these, with R. K. Chandler, the Vaughns, Smulls, Roberts, Millers, and many others that might be men- tioned, that have given tone and character to the town.
SUPERVISORS.
The supervisors of the town of DeKalb have been the following named persons : For 1850, Thomas M. Hopkins; 1851, Joseph F. Glidden ; 1852, Thomas M. Hopkins ; 1853, Alonzo Converse ; 1854, Luman Hunt- ley ; 1855. Alonzo Converse ; 1856, Marcus White ; 1857, E. P. Young ; 1858-59, Hiram Ellwood ; 1860, Cyrus Tappan ; 1861-62, J. F. Glidden ; 1863, Harvey Thompson; 1864-5, Thomas M. Hopkins; 1866, J. F. Glidden; 1867, Harvey Thompson; 1868, W. C. Tappan : 1869-70-71- 72, J. F. Glidden ; 1873-74-75, L. M. McEwen ; 1876, J. F. Glidden.
PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL.
The village was incorporated under a general act in 1856, and in 1860 by a special charter, which made the President of the Board of Trustees a member of the Board of Supervisors. This position has been filled by W. H. Allen, in 1861-62; Silas Tappan in 1863; Leonard Morse in 1864; S. O. Vaughn in 1865; E. B. Gilbert in 1866; W. H. Allen in 1867-68; William H. Miller in 1869; L. M. McEwen in 1870; W. H. Record in 1871; J. S. Russell in 1872; Horace Hunt in 1873; L. M. McEwen in 1874-75-76.
WAR RECORD.
De Kalb furnished 223 men for the suppression of the rebellion. The history of their patriotismi, losses, sufferings and triumphs, is too long to be recorded here, but it has been well preserved in the History of DeKalb County prepared by Mr. Boies, to which the reader is referred.
POPULATION.
The population of DeKalb (township and village) in 1855 was 1,588; in 1860, 1,900; in 1865, 1,978; in 1870, 2,164. The increase since 1870 has been in a larger ratio, as the city alone now contains 2,500 people.
BARBED WIRE MANUFACTURE.
DeKalb, through the introduction of barbed wire, has done much for the farmers, added largely to the growth of the place, and made for its manufacturers more money in the short space of two years than could have been realized in an ordinary life-time by the slow but sure process ·of accumulating wealth through the old established channels of trade.
There are two extensive establishments of this sort of manufacture
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
in DeKalb, the works of I. L. Ellwood & Co., and the factory of Jacob Haish. The former manufactures
THE GLIDDEN BARB WIRE FENCE.
This was invented and established by Mr. J. F. Glidden, who first conceived the idea in the Fall of 1873, and began experimenting upon it on his own farm. The idea of a thorny or barbed wire fence, so con- structed as to guard by its sharp spines or points against the pushing of stock, was not then entirely new. Michael Kelly had patented a barbed wire for fencing Nov. 17, 1868, which was re-issued April 4, 1876. But it consisted of a flat wire, with the barbs inserted in holes made through it. Mr. Glidden's first invention, patented May 12, 1874, was a decided improvement on this, consisting of a round fence wire and a barb formed of two short pointed pieces of wire, secured in place upon the fence wire by coiling between their ends, which were extended to present four points in different directions. Nov. 24, 1874, Mr. Glidden patented still another improvement, substituting for a single wire a double twisted wire, upon which was fixed a piece of pointed wire coiled in the center, forming two transverse points, in the words following: " A twisted fence wire having the transverse spur-wire bent at its middle portion about one of the wire strands of said fence wire, and clamped in position and place by the other wire strand twisted upon its fellow."
This latter is the kind manufactured at DeKalb by the Ellwood Company, and is a very desirable and popular wire fence. From manu- facturing a few of these by hand on his farm, Mr. J. F. Glidden got to making the material in the city by horse-power, using at first a single horse to propel his imperfect machinery, which has been from time to time improved, till now its perfection is a matter of astonishment to all beholders. This machinery, together with the extensive establishment, has all been created out of the raw material within the incredibly short period of two years, during which time the large sums of money expended have been made in the business itself; so that it has been self-developing and self-supporting, and has created in addition a large surplus. The secret of its financial success is the fact that it has met a want everywhere urgently felt all over the great prairie country of the West ; and the vast territory being of such varied climate that the demand is as great in Winter as in Summer. At no time, during any of the seasons, is there not fencing going on in some portion of the great field in which this fence is demanded-in Illinois or Iowa, in Texas or California.
Mr. Glidden first convinced his neighbors of the practicability of the invention by making with his own hands and setting about his farm por- tions of the fence. As these experiments were gradually improved and exhibited, the demand for the fence became urgent, and he was forced into its manufacture. As we have seen, he began on a small scale- working off a few pounds by hand, then by horse-power. In July, 1874, he entered into partnership with I. L. Ellwood, and commenced the manufacture in the city of DeKalb. The business soon outgrew their facilities. In the winter of 1874-5, they erected a portion of their present shops-a brick building 70x130 feet. The following year they doubled its capacity, increasing the machinery in the same proportion.
116
HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
At present they have capacity for turning out a ton per hour of the manufactured steel wire, and have standing orders for a car-load a day. These goods are shipped to all parts of the West, Northwest and South- west-Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, and California.
J. HAISH'S "S" BARB WIRE FENCE FACTORY.
This is the second establishment of the kind in DeKalb. It was established in 1874, and employs from eighty to ninety hands. About $80,000 capital are invested in the business. The products of this fac- tory differ somewhat from those of the Ellwood works, being the "S" barb, so called from its likeness to the letter S before being clinched upon the wire. The results of this enterprise show the advantages of healthy competition, and demonstrate the fact that such is the demand for fences of both kinds that a dozen such establishments could not fully supply it. The field is large and constantly increasing. Mr. Haish is now shipping his " double-twisted, double-coated, fire-proof, weather-proof, stock- proof, iron-clad, steelwire" fencing to Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, New York, and Ohio, and to Texas, California, and nearly all the western states and territories.
PROGRESS IN BUILDING.
A great deal of building has been done in the town within two years, and particularly since the fire. The city seems to be passing through that phase incident to all places which attain to a solid and substantial growth, when ephemeral wooden structures give place to those of brick, stone and iron, and the main street presents a busy appearance. It is literally crowded with building materials.
Peter Wagner has nearly completed on Main Street a fine brick and stone, iron column, three-story building. It is designed for printing office, post-office and furniture store. It is one hundred feet in depth, with fine airy basement, plate-glass windows, and will cost not less than $8,000 or $10,000.
Tyler and Shea have nearly finished a sightly brick building designed for a clothing store and restaurant.
Jacob Haish is erecting a fine building, to contain a Masonic Hall, city hall and offices, with stores in the ground story, and fine large base- ment. It will cost $20,000.
Lott & Baird have in process of erection a new brick bank building, just west of their present bank, which will be soon completed, and be an ornament to the town.
J. F. Glidden's new building was commenced in August, and will be enclosed this fall. It will be the finest and most costly building out of Chicago or the larger cities of the state. The ground floor will be occu- pied for mercantile purposes ; the upper stories for a hotel. It will cost about $30,000.
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