Bill Text: IL HR0424 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Commemorates the 160th anniversary of the founding of the Joseph F. Glidden Homestead in DeKalb.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Passed) 2021-09-09 - Resolution Adopted [HR0424 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HR0424-Introduced.html

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HR0424 LRB102 19606 MST 28375 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
Representatives wish to commemorate the 160th anniversary of
the founding of the Joseph F. Glidden Homestead in DeKalb in
1861; and
WHEREAS, The Glidden Homestead and Historical Center sits
on the site where Joseph Farwell Glidden invented barbed wire
with his second wife, Lucinda; he lost his first wife in
childbirth in 1846 and his three children during an epidemic a
year later in 1847; and
WHEREAS, Joseph Glidden, along with hardware merchant
Isaac Ellwood and lumberman Jacob Haish, crafted the idea for
a "barbed-wire" fence upon witnessing a fence board with
projecting brad points at a county fair in September of 1873;
and
WHEREAS, Joseph Glidden and Lucinda experimented in the
home's kitchen using a coffee mill to create the first-ever
strand of barbed wire; and
WHEREAS, At the age of 61, Joseph Glidden traveled to
Chicago to patent his new invention on November 24, 1874; and

HR0424 - 2 - LRB102 19606 MST 28375 r
WHEREAS, Joseph Glidden and Isaac Elwood then built the
world's first barbed wire factory in 1874; and
WHEREAS, In 1857, Joseph Glidden, Isaac Elwood, and Jacob
Haish, along with journalist Clinton Rosette, founded what is
now Northern Illinois University with part of the land where
the idea for barbed wire originated; and
WHEREAS, Later, Joseph Glidden served until his death in
1906 at the age of 93 as publisher for founding editor Clinton
Rosette's Daily Chronicle newspaper in DeKalb; and
WHEREAS, By the time of Joseph Glidden's death, Isaac
Ellwood estimated that their factory had produced enough
barbed wire to circle the earth 17 times, earning DeKalb the
nickname of "The Barbed City" to this day; and
WHEREAS, Barbed wire played a significant role in settling
the American West, where it became popular due to the lack of
stone or wood available for fencing crops and livestock; and
WHEREAS, The Illinois State Historical Society has erected
a historical marker commemorating barbed wire manufacturing at
the Glidden Homestead; and
WHEREAS, Members of the Glidden family have lived on the

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Glidden Homestead from the time it was built in 1861 until
1998, when it became a museum; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we commemorate the 160th anniversary of the Joseph F. Glidden
Homestead; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
presented to the Joseph F. Glidden Homestead and Historical
Center as an expression of our esteem and respect.