Lorado Taft

It’s been just over a year since Northern Illinois University closed its outdoor education campus high above the Rock River in Oregon, Illinois. While its future is still in limbo, a group called Together for Taft is making progress in its effort to bring it back as an environmental education center. WNIJ’s Under Rocks podcast team stopped by the group’s fundraiser recently, which was held across the river from the shuttered campus.

This fall, Northern Illinois University announced it would be closing its Lorado Taft Field Campus in Ogle County. WNIJ’s Peter Medlin spent a day with one of the last NIU classes who will study there.

Imagine walking in the woods and coming across six large men struggling to transport a coffin on their shoulders, heads bowed in concentration, arms taut…

"Black Hawk" gazes over the Rock River from high atop a bluff in Lowden State Park once more. Restoration on the Lorado Taft statue (which he called "The…

Restoration of a monumental Illinois statue is scheduled to finish by year’s end. Lorado Taft called his statue in Lowden State Park overlooking the Rock…

Work is finally set to begin on the restoration of an iconic Illinois statue.Scaffolding has been erected around Lorado Taft’s statue. Known to many as…

A northern Illinois legislator said efforts to restore an iconic statue near Oregon continue, but slowly, and completion is still up in the air.State Rep.…

An effort to restore an Ogle County icon is advancing, but there’s still no money for actual repairs. The years have not been kind to Lorado Taft’s…

The protective covering around a towering statue near Oregon has been removed. But it’s not because the work is finished. The restoration of the…