On October 27, 1873, Joseph Glidden, a farmer in Illinois, applied for a patent on a clever new design for a fencing wire with sharp barbs. Glidden’s was not the first barbed fencing wire, but his design was better. The design was also well-suited for mass production, and Glidden’s wire soon became the most popular wire in the nation. Barbed wire was an an invention that forever changed the face of the American West.
