Eagle's Nest Art Colony

The Eagle's Nest Art Colony Association was founded in 1898 by American sculptor Lorado Taft on the bluffs flanking the east bank of the Rock River, overlooking Oregon, Illinois. The colony was populated by Chicago artists, all members of the Chicago Art Institute or the University of Chicago art department, who gathered in Ogle County to escape the summer heat of Chicago. Taft and his peers looked toward Wisconsin after leaving Bass Lake, but Heckman invited the group to his home in Ogle County for the Fourth of July. Heckman offered to let the group set up camp there and they signed a lease for the site the same week. The lease provided of land for US$1 per year with the stipulation that each colony member give a free lecture or demonstration in the area. Other famous writers and artists who visited the colony include: James H. Breasted, Charles R. Crane, I.K. Friedman, George Barr McCutcheon, John T. McCutcheon, Harriet Monroe, William Vaughn Moody, Elia W. Peattie, Lucy Fitch Perkins, Bert Leston Taylor, Nellie Walker, and Donald Peattie. ==Taft campus==

Leslie A. Holmes proposed a "field campus" for Northern Illinois Teachers College in his inaugural address as president in 1948. The land encompassed the former site of the Eagle's Nest Art Colony and its buildings. The Black Hawk Statue was not included in the land transfer. ==Buildings and structures==

Taft Cottages Studios Taft's original studio at the colony was a converted barn northwest of the present-day Director's House. A small wooden building, the studio had a highly sloped roof which allowed large figures to be built inside. A skylight poured natural light into Taft's work area, and a concrete porch on its exterior. The first working models of the Black Hawk Statue were created inside the studio. Taft's original studio is no longer extant, and the present-day craft shop was built on its site. Dickerson Cottage and house The original Dickerson Cottage was constructed in 1898 in the location of the present-day Dickerson House. Dickerson completed the construction with the help of a local builder and the finished product was intended to be a one-room building with a partition as the only interior division. The building was expanded in 1908 when a new porch, living room, kitchen and bathroom were added. ==Major works at Eagle's Nest==

at Lowden State Park In the summer of 1843, more than 50 years before the colony occupied the land, Margaret Fuller made her only visit to Oregon, Illinois. Walking along the east bank of the Rock River during her visit, she noticed the natural spring at the base of the bluff. She dubbed the spring "Ganymede Spring", and later sat down beneath the Eagle's Nest Tree, and penned her famous poem "Ganymede to His Eagle". Standing prominently on Eagle's Nest Bluff is Lorado Taft's famed Black Hawk Statue; the bluff is now part of Lowden State Park. The statue was created by Lorado Taft, beginning in 1908. Taft at first created smaller studies of what would become the statue. The statue itself was dedicated in 1911, Taft noted at the dedication that the statue seemed to have grown out of the ground. ==Ganymede Spring==

Ganymede Spring, or Ganymede's Spring, is located along a path near the east bank of the Rock River at the base of Eagle's Nest Bluff, about north of the Black Hawk Statue. The natural spring, which originates in the limestone beneath Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, supplied the colony with water for cooking, drinking and for use in their swimming pools. One pool was at the base of the spring and the other was located where the present-day NIU parking lot is found. The original pool at the base of the spring can still be seen when the water level on the Rock River is low. Originally, from 1898–1902 water was transported up the hill by horse and wagon. By 1902 a large pump was installed, though it took two attempts, and a water tower dispensed water to the various buildings. ==Influence==

's design was influenced by members of the colony. The art colony influenced and contributed to area culture, in part due to the requirements of their lease. Two of the charter members of the art colony were Chicago architects, Allen and Irving Pond, who designed the Oregon Public Library, a Carnegie library building, heavily influenced by the presence of the art colony. It was the Ponds' association with the Eagle's Nest Art Colony that led them to design the library. The library proper did not begin providing its services until 1909. Hamlin Garland, a 1921 Pulitzer Prize recipient for literature, spoke at the Oregon library while he was a member of the Eagle's Nest Colony. The exedra extends around the installation and to either side of the female sculpture are built in benches. Above the benches are bronze plaques honoring veterans of the Civil War and the Spanish–American War, above the individual war plaques is bronze plating that reads, "Ogle County Honors Her Sons." Flanking the dominant sculpture are two soldiers atop pedestals, one facing north and the other facing south. The Fish Boys, or Dolphin Fountain, is another Taft work located in Oregon. The fountain consists of two boys kneeling on the edge of a pool of water, each holding a large fish. Water from the mouths of the fish pours into the shallow pool. The figures were originally cast in bronze and designed as part of the Fountain of the Great Lakes in Chicago. The Oregon Fish Boys are a blend of concrete, quartz and pebbles from the Potomac River. The fountain is located in Oregon's Mix Park. ==Notes==