 Two of DeKalb's most prominent citizens, Jacob Haish and Isaac L. Ellwood, each promised to donate $20,000 to help absorb some of the new building's cost; their donation hinged upon the courthouse being moved to and constructed in DeKalb.The city of Sycamore responded by raising $70,000 in donations from its citizens and legal wrangling continued, until 1904.Haish eventually pledged $103,000 for a DeKalb courthouse but it was decided that the county seat would stay in Sycamore and ground was broken, despite the continuing legal battle, on October 29, 1903.