DeKalb, IL Cash Advance and Title Loans

About DeKalb, IL

The history of DeKalb, Illinois, in many ways, is like that of most small towns set in the Midwest. The city was founded in the first half of the nineteenth century and started out as a small farming community. In the second half of the 1800’s, the first railroads came through DeKalb and the city experienced a boom that changed its economy from a farming center to an agricultural shipping center. But what makes DeKalb unique, was that it was the birthplace of one of the most influential companies in the development of the United States. In 1873, Joseph Glidden and Isaac Ellwood formed the Barb Fence Company that produced the first barbed wire, which was instrumental in taming and shaping the western frontier of the United States.

DeKalb, today, is home to roughly 44,000 residents and is located in the northeast corner of Illinois about 60 miles west of Chicago. Half of its residents attend the city’s largest institution, Northern Illinois University. Originally named Northern Illinois State Normal School, Northern Illinois has the state’s third largest college campus. With so much of its population affiliated with the university, DeKalb, like most small college towns, is beholden to the school for most of its economy and culture.