antique barbed wire society





The Antique Barbed Wire Society is committed to collecting, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting the historical heritage of barbed wire and barbed wire related items.



Barbed Wire Inventors



Businessmen & Inventors Who Shaped the Barbed Wire Industry





Joseph Glidden





1813-1906



January 18, 1813: Joseph F. Glidden was born in Charleston, Sullivan County, New Hampshire.


1835 - 1838: Glidden teaches school.


1837: Glidden marries Clarissa Foster. He is 24 years old.


1838 - 1841: Glidden owns a small farm.


1842: Joseph Glidden leaves New York with his brother, Josiah Willard, and moves to Mt. Morris, Illinois.


1842 - 1843: Glidden buys a 600 acre farm in DeKalb, Illinois. He is now 30 years old. 1843 Joseph Glidden's young sons, Homer and Virgil, die in an epidemic. Clarissa comes to De Kalb.


1844: Clarissa Glidden dies in childbirth. The baby dies a few months later.


1844 - 1851: Very little is known about Glidden during this time period.


1851: Glidden marries Lucinda Warne. He is 38 years old.


1852: Glidden is elected county sheriff. A daughter, Elva Frances Glidden is born.


1853: The railroad acquires right of way access across the Glidden farm.


1861: Glidden hires Jacob Haish to build a house and barn.


1863: Glidden is elected to the County Board of Supervisors, at the age of 50. He remains on in office until 1873.


1874: In July, Glidden sells Isaac Ellwood half interest in his barbed wire patent for $265.00. On November 24th he is granted a patent by the U.S. Patent Office.


1875: Glidden and Ellwood build a barbed wire factory in DeKalb.


1876: Glidden sells the other half interest in his patent to Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. He receives $60,000.00 plus royalties. Glidden Builds the Glidden House hotel.


1879: Glidden buys the DeKalb Chronical and publishes it until death.


1881: Glidden is elected mayor of DeKalb. He becomes a partner with Henry Sanborn in a 250,000 acre ranch in Texas.


1887: Elva Frances Glidden marries William H. Bush of Chicago. At 74 years of age, Glidden moves into the Glidden House Hotel.


1895: Glidden donates 63 acres of land for the site of Northern Illinois State Normal School. Lucinda Glidden dies at the age of 69.


1903: Joseph F. Glidden is honored by the leaders of DeKalb and his long time friends on the occasion of his 90th birthday.


October 9, 1906: Joseph F. Glidden dies at the age of 93.



Isaac Ellwood





1833-1910



August 3, 1833: Isaac Ellwood was born in Salt Springfield, New York.


1851: After working for a few years as a teamster on the Erie Canal, young Ike Ellwood set out for California and the gold fields.


1851 - 1852: Ellwood works in the gold fields.


1852 - 1855: He clerks in a Sacramento store.


1855: At the age of 22, Ellwood moves to DeKalb County, Illinois, with $2,600.00 in his pocket. He takes a a job on the Miller farm at Kingston. Later, with help from William Miller, Ellwood opens a hardware store in downtown DeKalb. The store is in business until 1875.


January 27, 1859: I.L. Ellwood marries Harriet Augusta Miller and by 1874 they had 7 children.


1873: At the DeKalb fair, Ellwood observes an idea for barbed wire fencing.


July 1874: For $265.00, Joseph Glidden sells Ellwood one-half interest in his barbed wire invention. Production begins on Glidden's farm.


1875: Ellwood and Glidden build their first barbed wire factory, on South Second Street in DeKalb. The factory building is still standing.


1876: Ellwood becomes a partner in the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company of Worchester, Massachusetts.


1877: Ellwood and Washburn and Moan build a new factory in DeKalb. The factory extends from 4th to 6th streets on both sides of Locust Street. Ellwood buys 1200 acres of land west of North First Street.


April 1, 1879: Construction begins on the Ellwood house.

1881: By a "secret deal," Jacob Haish comes to terms with I.L. Ellwood & Co. 1887 Ellwood begins purchasing 640,000 acres of Texas ranch land.


1892: I.L. Ellwood and Company build their Wire and Nail Mill in DeKalb.


1895: Ellwood works long and hard to see that the new Northern Illinois State Normal School is located in DeKalb


1898: I.L. Ellwood and Company is bought out by John W. ("Bet-a-Million") Gates, becoming part of the new American Steel and Wire Company.


1900: After serving on the Governor's staff Ellwood has bestowed upon him the honorary title of "Colonel" by Governor John Tanner of Illinois.


July 1901: Mrs. I.L. Ellwood dies at the age of 73.


Sept. 11, 1910: Col. I.L. Ellwood dies at the age of 77



Jacob Haish





1826-1926



March 9, 1826:​ Jacob Haish is born in Germany.


1835: At age 9, Jacob Haish comes to America with his parents.


1845: Now 19 Jacob Haish moves to Illinois.


1847: At age 21, Haish marries Sophia Brown.


1847 - 1853: The Haish's buy a farm in Pierce Township.


1853: Haish and his young wife move to DeKalb, Illinois. 1853 - 1873: Haish operates a successful business as a carpenter in DeKalb. Late in the 1860's he grows orange osage hedges in an attempt to develop a durable form of fencing.


January 20, 1874: Jacob Haish is granted a barbed wire patent issued by the U.S. Patent Office. He at once files a suit against Joseph Glidden for infringing on his patent. The legal controversy has begun and is finally settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1882.


1876: Haish builds an Opera House in downtown DeKalb. Haish is now 50 years old. 1891 Haish builds a large factory in which to manufacture his wire.


1894: Haish erects his palatial mansion at the northwest corner of Third and Pine in DeKalb. It served as a memorial to the outspoken inventor until it was torn down in 1961. Jacob Haish entered the banking business with the founding of the Barb City Bank. He was active in the bank until his death.


1895: Haish joins his long time rival, I.L. Elwood and Joseph Glidden, in fighting to have Northern Illinois State Normal School located in DeKalb. He donated $10,000 for the school library.


1902: A new city school is built and is named for Jacob Haish, now 76 years old.


1914 - 1916: Jacob Haish refuses to sell barbed wire for use in World War I.


1916: Haish sells his barbed wire factory to P.A. Nehring. The curtain is drawn on a 45 year career in the barbed wire industry. Jacob Haish retires to devote his last years to the banking business.


September 9, 1918: Sophia Haish dies at the age of 90.


February 19, 1926: Jacob Haish dies in his mansion just 19 days before his 100th birthday. He has provided for his entire estate to be left to charity. Money was left in his will to build a monument on the site of his grave, for the construction of a public library and for the operation of the Jacob Haish Memorial Hospital.



William Edenborn





1948-1926



March 30, 1948: William Edenborn is born in Westphailia, Prussia.


1860: He was apprenticed to a manufacturer of steel wire, and shoemakers', and saddlers' awls.


1867: He came to the United States and followed the trade of wire drawing, working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri.


1868: Takes a business course and later a course in mechanical drawing.


1870: In association with Frank M. Ludlow, he erected the first wire mill in St. Louis, Missouri and produced the first coil of wire west of the Mississippi.


October 5, 1876: Married Sarah Drain of St. Louis, Missouri


1877: He organized the St. Louis Wire Mill Company, and as its president, he developed it into one of the largest industries of its kind in the United States.


1882: He began manufacturing barbed wire.


1885: Edenborn built the Braddock Wire Company Plant at Rankin, Pennsylvania.


1898: The American Steel and Wire Company of Illinois was incorporated and Edenborn was elected president.


1899 - 1901: The American Steel and Wire of Illinois was known as the American Wire and Steel of New Jersey until it was sold to United States Steel Corporation for $50,000,000.00 in preferred and common Stocks.


1901 - 1908: He was president of the Louisiana Railroad and Navigation Company, Pittsburgh & Southern Coal Company, and the American Musical Company of New Jersey. He was a director of the Urania Lumber Company of Louisiana and the St. Louis Iron and Machine Works.


1926: William Edenborn died in 1926, at the age of 78 and is buried in Forest Park Cemetery in Shreveport, Louisiana. The tremendous growth of the wire industry was chiefly due to his inventive and executive ability, his genius as an organizer and his farsightedness. He may well be called the "father" of the barbed wire industry. He invented and patented many machines and devices that were installed in barbed wire manufacturing plants, which reduced the cost of wire manufacturing.



Philip Moen





1824-1891



November 13, 1824: Phillip Moen was born in Wilna, New York.


1836: The Moen family settled in Brooklyn, New York.


1840: Phillip Moen enrolled in Columbia College but had to quit school because of eye problems. He began to work for his father to learn the fundamentals of business.


1846: Phillip married the eldest daughter of Ichabod Washburn of Worcester, Massachusetts. Washburn was the founder of a wire production facility.


1847: Moen and his wife moved to Worcester where he became a partner in a firm to construct a rolling mill.


1850: Moen purchased a half interest in the Washburn Company. Washburn appointed Moen vice-president.


1854: Moen’s first wife dies 1856 Moen married Maria Grant.


1866: To raise capital and increase capacity the Washburn Company incorporated under the name of Washburn & Moen Wire Works.


1850-1868: The firm developed a process to manufacture crinoline wire and steel wire to make sewing machine needles.


1868: The company continued to expand with new plants in South Worcester and Quinsigamond, Massachusetts, and re-organized under the name of Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company.


1868: Moen became president and treasurer of the company upon the death of Washburn.


1890: The company established a rolling mill and barbed wire producing plant in Waukegan, Illinois.


April 23, 1891: Phillip Moen died. Moen was survived by his wife, one son, and two daughters.


1895: The Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company was producing 100,000 tons of barbed wire annually.



Icabod Washburn





1798-1868



August 11, 1798: Ichabod Washburn and his twin brother, Charles, were born in Kingston, Massachusetts.


1798: Ichabod’s father died of yellow fever in October.


1807: At the age of nine, Ichabod was bound as an apprentice to a chaise and harness maker in Duxbury, Massachusetts.


1809: Ichabod returned home to work in a cotton factory where he operated a hand-loom.


1814: Washburn moved to Leicester, Massachusetts, to work as an apprentice for Jonathan and David Trask in a blacksmith shop.


1820: Ichabod went into business with William H. Howard manufacturing lead pipe.


1822: Washburn bought out Howard and took in Benjamin Goddard as his partner, creating the firm of Washburn and Goddard.


1830: Washburn developed a process to draw wire from steel rods. The process was crude and production could not exceed 50 pounds per day.


1832: Ichabod married Ann Brown of Worcester, Massachusetts.


1833: Washburn gradually refined the wire drawn process by developing the drawn block method and was able to produce 2,500 pounds of wire a day.


1835: The Washburn and Goddard partnership was sold January 30, and Washburn moved to Grove Mill, Massachusetts, where he established a new wire production facility.


1842: Ichabod and his brother Charles formed a partnership under the name of I. & C. Washburn.


1849: The I. & C. Washburn firm was dissolved.


1850: Washburn formed a new company with his son-in-law Phillip L. Moen who served as vice president.


1850-1868: The firm developed a process to manufacture crinoline wire and steel wire to make sewing machine needles.


1868: The Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company was organized with Philip Moen becoming president and treasurer. The firm grew to be one of the largest wire producers in the United States.


December 30, 1868: Ichabod Washburn died.



John W. Gates





1855-1911



May 18, 1855: John W. Gates was born in West Chicago, Illinois (Turner Junction), the son of Asel A. and Mary Warne Gates.


February 25, 1874: Gates married Dellora Baker.


1876: Gates graduated from North Central College


1876: Gates' father-in-law, Ed Baker and his father Asel purchased a two-story brick building and Ed Baker provided the capital for stock to open a hardware store in Turner Junction.


May 21, 1876: Son Charles Gilbert Gates was born.


1876: After meeting a barbed wire salesman, Gates became interested in the relatively new product. He sold his interest in the hardware store and become a traveling salesman for the product.


1876: Isaac Ellwood hired him as a salesman for the Washburn-Moen barbed wire company. In San Antonio, inspired by a medicine show, Gates set up a production in Military Plaza to demonstrate the merits of barbed wire. He prodded cattle to charge a barbed wire fence which did not break. As a result, the company could not fill orders fast enough.


1876: After being unable to become a partner with Ellwood, he partnered with Alfred Clifford to start the Southern Wire Company to compete with Washburn-Moen.


1896: After a fire destroyed the Southern Wire Company, Gates partnered with William C. Edenborn as St. Louis Wire Mill Company.


1900: Gates won $600,000 on a $70,000 bet on a horse race in England, exaggerated at over $1 million, giving him the nickname "Bet-A-Million".


August 11, 1911: Gates died in Paris, France from complecations in surgery.



Photo Gallery



Washburn & Moen Mfg., Worchester, Mass.



Jacob Haish Company - DeKalb, Illinois



Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois - 1899



Jacob Haish Residence., DeKalb, Illinois - ca 1900



Joseph Glidden Barn - DeKalb, Illinois - ca1880



Superior Barbed Wire Co., DeKalb, Illinois - 1892



American Steel & Wire Co.,DeKalb, Illinois - ca1900



American Steel & Wire Co., DeKalb, Illinois



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