DeKalb is located in the northern-central part of the state of Illinois and a city in DeKalb County. It sits on the Kishwaukee River on its southern side and is about 60 miles to the west of Chicago. The area was called Buena Vista when it was first founded and was renamed to Huntley’s Grove until it was then renamed officially to DeKalb after one of the generals in the American Revolution - Johann Klab. With the arrival of the railroad, the city grew as well with agriculture as the primary economic activity. The city’s development was mainly attributed to the established barbed-wire industry who then in 1874, Joseph F. Glidden invented a successful variety of the barbed-wire fencing strategy. And with the rise of his invention, DeKalb was then widely known as the “Barbed City.”