After the Chicago & North Western Railway arrived in 1853, DeKalb grew rapidly, with its downtown filling with grocers, pharmacies, hardware stores, saloons, offices, schools, theaters, banks, and the city’s first library. The Lincoln Highway’s establishment spurred further development, adding hotels, a movie palace, auto garages, and tourist-oriented shops. Proximity to the railroad also tied downtown to DeKalb’s industrial roots, particularly the barbed wire innovations that fueled local wire mills for generations. Today, downtown remains the community’s civic, commercial, and educational hub, its history reflected in an eclectic mix of building forms and architectural styles unique to the Kishwaukee River Basin.

 

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