The Plat Book

This leather bound book is the oldest known mapping of the City of DeKalb. The bound volume has two dates on the front page. The dates are 1858 and 1859. The first date is signed by Horace Fay, the County Surveyor and the second date is signed by Eli Gilbert who filed the document on March 21, 1859.

Some pages are blank (open surveyed land) and others are very detailed. The Kishwaukee River page is a good place to orient yourself the first time you use the digital version or the facsimile. After that turn the pages until you get to the detailed areas of the original downtown.

Notice the pin pricks on the outer edges. These were to hold down the documents indicating that this was a working document. Notice the coffee spills and other smudges and you have a window onto the time that this plat book was in use.

The plat book was found in the archives of the library during a remodeling in 2004.
This document’s digitization was a result of a wonderful partnership between the DeKalb Public Library, the Friends of the DeKalb Public Library who paid for the digitization, Northern Illinois University’s Media Services with Keith Lowman spearheading the scanning, Jana Brubaker of Northern Illinois University’s Founders Memorial Library and Teresa Iversen of the DeKalb Public Library for assistance in cataloging the facsimile and Glen Gildemeister, Ph.D of the Regional History Archives who authenticated the “find”.

To view this book online please click on the following link Plat Book . You can also view larger quality pictures on any of the catalog computers within our library.

You can e-mail DeKalb Public Library Reference Services with any questions.