On Wednesday July 5, 2023 a car passes a 133 year old building on 2nd Street in DeKalb that has been talked about being torn down for a parking lot. (David Toney for Shaw Local/David Toney)
DeKALB – It’s no secret that DeKalb’s claim to fame largely lies in its forefather’s invention of barbed wire, and a downtown building at the center of city debate once described by city staff as “underperforming” may hold more meaning to the community than meets the eye, local historians said. Arch Corner Bead
Glidden Homestead and Historical Center Executive Director Jessi Haish LaRue said barbed wire may hold a long, complicated place in world history, and rightfully so, but it’s for reasons beyond what one of its earliest inventors, Joseph Glidden, intended.
It’s LaRue’s opinion that that history deserves to be celebrated locally at the same time for giving the DeKalb community something to take pride in.
“To me, it’s an invention that had a purpose,” LaRue said. “It really put DeKalb on the map. It would have been just a small dot on the map otherwise. So, this history matters in that what would DeKalb be without it?
“It did transform and was used to fence-in in oppressive ways and was used in World War I, but that was kind of beyond the scope of these original barbed wire barons. Joseph Glidden was already deceased at that time. It’s not what the agricultural roots were here in DeKalb.”
The 133 year old building that sits on 2nd Street in DeKalb has been talked about being torn down for a parking lot. (David Toney for Shaw Local/David Toney)
In recent months, a 148-year-old building in the downtown area where barbed wire was formerly manufactured has become contentious between city leaders and the property owner trading barbs over the how to value the old barbed wire factory, 128 to 140 S. Second St., DeKalb. So much so that negotiations have hit a standstill, and the city has wanted to leverage the legal powers under eminent domain to try to acquire the rights to the building.
The city has announced its desire to buy the old barbed wire factory, demolish it and turn it into a parking lot.
As of Thursday, city staff now proposes that the building be acquired through condemnation depending on how the property owner responds to the latest offer derived from a third-party valuation, according to documents released by the city of DeKalb.
An independent appraisal of the old building done by Colliers International Valuation and Advisory Services of Chicago on July 26 proposed a market value sale price of $370,000, city documents show. A counter made previously on July 6 by attorney Mark Doherty on behalf of D-N-J Properties, which owns the building, asked the city for $475,000.
As the fate of the building heads to the City Council again Monday with a proposed vote on how to next proceed, here is a look at six facts you may not know about the history of DeKalb’s old barbed wire factory.
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