Isaac L. Ellwood was born in New York in 1833 and, as a boy, showed his business acumen by selling sauerkraut to barge hands on the Erie Canal.

At the age of 18, he went west to get in on the Gold Rush. Four years later, he returned east and chose DeKalb as his new home.

He opened a hardware and farm implement store with his $3,000 stake and quickly parlayed that by purchasing several farms around him. At the close of the Civil War, he began breeding Percheron draft horses. This brought a need for fencing--with materials other than wood, which was scarce on the prairie.

Although he had a design for barbed wire, he recognized the patent of Joseph Glidden as superior. They agreed to partner in 1873 and met with immediate success.

They formed the I.L Ellwood Mfg. Co. which led to the Superior Barbed Wire Company which mergered with American Steel and Wire Company, a predecessor of United States Steel.