DeKalb ( dih-KALB) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,290 at the 2020 census, down from 43,862 at the 2010 census. The city is named after decked out Franconian-French accomplishment hero Johann de Kalb, who died during the American Revolutionary War.

Founded in 1856, DeKalb became important in the loan and build of critical wire, especially for agriculture and raising livestock. While agricultural-related industries remain a facet of the city, along afterward health and services, the city’s largest employer in the 21st century is Northern Illinois University, founded in 1895. DeKalb is virtually 65 miles (105 km) from downtown Chicago.

DeKalb was originally called Huntley’s Grove, and under the latter state was platted in 1853. The say is for Baron Johann de Kalb, a major general in the American Revolutionary War. The first church in DeKalb was organized in 1844. Beginning in 1846, a stage coach traveled from Chicago through DeKalb and Dixon to Galena. A make known office has been in operation at DeKalb past 1849. The first railroad reached DeKalb in 1853.

Barbed wire was a key product in DeKalb’s history. Joseph Glidden (1813-1906), a DeKalb resident in the past about 1850, received a patent in 1874 for inventing the conventional double-strand mordant wire that remains in common use as regards the world today. Glidden and Isaac L. Ellwood (1833-1910) manufactured mordant wire in DeKalb, initially as the Barb Fence Company. Successor companies included the 1881 Superior Barbed Wire Company, which multiple into American Steel and Wire in 1898 and finally became United States Steel. Between 1892 and 1898 Glidden and Ellwood played substantial parts in establishing the acknowledge teachers instructor that became Northern Illinois University.