DeKalb County (pop. 42,223) is south of Steuben County and just west of Ohio.
It’s one of six DeKalb counties in the U.S., all named for Johann von Robais, Baron de Kalb (1721-1780), a French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.
He died in the Battle of Camden.
The county seat of DeKalb County is the city of Auburn (pop. 13,086).
DeKalb County Courthouse (1905)
Auburn is known as the “Home of the Classics” because of its history of producing luxury automobiles. The Auburn Automobile Company was founded in Auburn and went out of business in 1937.
The Auburn Automobile Company made Duesenberg cars from 1926 until Duesenberg folded in 1937.
1931 Duesenberg Torpedo Phaeton
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, located in the company’s former buildings, has a collection of about 125 vehicles.
The former showroom
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival is held annually on Labor Day weekend.
The Parade of Classics
Auburn is also the home of the Early Ford V-8 Foundation and Museum, “preserving 1932-1953 Ford history.”
Founded in 1991
Auburn is one of four communities in DeKalb County (along with Butler, Garrett, and Waterloo) with community mausoleums, built between 1914 and 1922. All are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Roselawn Cemetery, Auburn
The city of Garrett (pop. 6,286) was the hometown of silent film star John Bowers (born John Bowersox in 1885), whose career collapsed with the beginning of “talkies” and who apparently committed suicide in 1936 in the Pacific Ocean near Malibu.
On the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Amtrak’s “Capitol Limited” (between Washington, D.C., and Chicago) and “Lake Shore Limited” (between New York City and Chicago) stop in the town of Waterloo (pop. 2,242) – each one daily, in both directions.
2-3 hours from Chicago
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