Glidden was born in Charlestown, New Hampshire of English descent. His family later moved to Clarendon, New York. In 1843, he moved to Illinois with his wife. She and their two sons died after the move, and Glidden married Lucinda Warne in 1851. He created barbed wire by using a coffee mill to create the barbs. Joseph placed the barbs along a wire and then twisted another wire around it to keep the barbs in place. He received the patent for barbed wire in 1874 and was quickly embroiled in a legal battle over whether he actually invented it. He eventually won and created the Barb Fence Company in DeKalb, Illinois, making him extremely rich. By the time of his death in 1906, he was one of the richest menin America. The Dun & Bradstreet Collection, 1840-1895, MSS 791, LXIII, 130, Baker Library, Harvard, recorded his assets at one million dollars. This included the Glidden House Hotel; the DeKalb Chronicle; 3,000 acres of farm land in Illinois; 35,000 acres in Texas; and the Glidden Felt Pad Industry. From 1852 to 1854, he served as Sheriff of DeKalb County. In 1851, 1861, 1862, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, and 1876 he served on the Board of Supervisors of the County. In 1867, he served on the Executive Committee of DeKalb County Agriculture and Mechanical Society's Seventh Annual Fall Fair, held September 25–28. In 1876, he was the Democratic nominee for Illinois State Senator. From 1861 to 1874, he served as a member of the Board of School Directors, and for 20 years paid the largest school tax of any citizen of the county. He was also one of the largest contributors to the erection of one of the churches. He was also Vice-President of the DeKalb National Bank, Director of the North Western Railroad, and owner of the DeKalb Rolling Mill. To demonstrate the effectiveness of barbed wire, Glidden and his sales agent for the State of Texas, Marques Fortner, in 1881 developed the "Frying Pan Ranch" in Bushland in Potter County near Amarillo, Texas. The wire was brought in by wagon from the railhead at Dodge City, Kansas, and the timbers were cut from Palo Duro Canyon and along the Canadian River Valley. A herd of 12,000 head of cattle was branded with the "Panhandle Brand", which the cowboys called "frying pan". The ranch proved the success of the wire and changed ranching. Henry B. Sanborn, a sales representative for Glidden’s company, owned a ranch in Grayson County north of Dallas and wished to advertise barbed wire there. In 1881, Sanborn purchased ninety-five sections of land in southwestern Potter County from near the Canadian River extending into Randall County south of Amarillo. Included in the purchase was Tecovas Spring, once a watering site and a trading post for Indians and Comancheros. John Summerfield, a surveyor from Sherman, Texas, reported a constant flow of fresh water from the spring. Sanborn chose this site for his ranch headquarters and enclosed 120 miles of land in barbed wire at a cost of $39,000. Warren W. Wetzel, also of Sherman, used cedar posts brought from both the Palo Duro Canyon and the breaks of the Sierrita de la Cruz in the northwestern portion of the ranch to hold up the wire. The Frying Pan Ranch soon had 15,000 head of cattle, and 125,000 more acres were added. Later the ranch was divided. Prior to 1920, W. H. and Ruth Bush built a larger ranch house near Tecovas Spring, which later became the residence of Stanley Marsh 3 and his wife, Wendy, a granddaughter of the W. H. and Ruth Bush. Stanley Marsh called the estate “Toad Hall.” Glidden, a former teacher, gave 63 acres of his homestead as a site for the Northern Illinois State Normal School. The school opened on September 12, 1898, with 139 students and 16 members of the faculty. The school's name was changed to Northern Illinois University in 1957. The town of Glidden, Iowa, is named in his honor.
