Northern Illinois University

Governor John Peter Altgeld signed an act on May 22, 1895, establishing the Northern Illinois State Normal School. Its first building, "The Castle on the Hill," was constructed here on what had been the site of the DeKalb County Fairgrounds. DeKalb citizens who contributed influence, land, and money to the school included newspaper publisher Clinton Rosette, Col. Isaac L. Ellwood, and barbed-wire inventors and manufacturers Joseph Glidden and Jacob Haish. With 16 faculty members and an enrollment of 173 students, the school opened on September 12, 1899. It was later renamed Northern Illinois State Teachers College in 1921, Northern Illinois State College in 1955, and Northern Illinois University in 1957.

DeKalb, Illinois · United States