Oregon Illinois Depot, 401 Collins Street, Oregon, IL (2026)

05/19/2026

Pictured is a colorized postcard of the Chicago North Western Railroad Depot which was located on the SW corner of Main & Cedar Streets in Rockford, Illinois. Built in the 1880s and torn down in the 1950s, it was one of four depots that rose to prominence in Rockford; the Chicago & North Western, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (the Milwaukee Road) and the Illinois Central. Railroads were key to Rockford’s rise as a thriving manufacturing and commercial center.

The “Those Were the Days” presenter at the Oregon Depot on Saturday, May 30th at 10:00 am will be Rockford historian, Lynell Cannell. Canell is a Winnebago Boone County Genealogical Society board member, a speaker and docent at Rockford's Ethnic Heritage Museum and a presenter at Rock Valley College's Center for Learning in Retirement. Canell will speak about the Rockford Railroad Convention of 1846, the start of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, the first railroad in Chicago and the first to serve Rockford. She’ll talk about the completion of the route from Chicago to Freeport in 1853 and the eventual merger with the Chicago & North Western in 1864-65. She’ll talk about its visionary first president, William B. Ogden, the 1st Mayor of Chicago, about the route across northern Illinois, local depots, the earliest locomotives (and where you can still visit the first one!). Canell will show recent photos that will help you recognize parts of its route that you may encounter as you visit the communities of Rockford, Winnebago, and Pecatonica. Canell thinks you’ll want to hear the story about the first railroad, the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad.

For more information about this or other presentations or if you have a depot program topic you’d like to see or present, contact Roger Cain 815-757-9715, Chris Martin 815-742-8471 or Otto Dick 815-440-0639.

04/17/2026

Pictured are bison of Nachusa Grasslands with their young calves. Calving season at the grasslands occurs primarily in April and May. Most cows have a single calf following a gestational period of 285 days (about 9 & ½ months). Calves are cared for by their mothers for about nine months. This period is crucial for the survival of the calves and is influenced by several ecological factors.

The presenter for our Those Were The Days program at the Oregon Illinois Depot on Saturday, April 25th at 10:00 am, will be Oregon resident, Mark Herman. A Nachusa Grasslands volunteer, Herman will talk about the history and evolution of the critical grassland habitat which the Nature Conservancy has protected and restored since 1986. Herman will also talk about the return of wild bison to the Illinois prairie in 2014.

What began as small prairie remnants and oak savannas interspersed with corn fields, has been carefully managed and restored to more than 4,000 acres of prairie, woodland, savanna, and wetland habitats. In 2014, the first wild bison herd in Illinois was brought to the Nachusa Grasslands to complete the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Nachusa Grasslands is a community-based volunteer supported operation and has become a model for habitat restoration and science research, making it one of the best preserves in North America.

Herman is the former Superintendent of Education at the Byron Forest Preserve District in Byron and Curator of Education at Midway Village Museum in Rockford. He is an active volunteer with The Nature Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands, Middle Rock Conservation Partners and the Chana School Museum.

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The Those Were The Days programs are always the last Saturday of every month at 10:00 am. For more information about this program or other programs, please contact Roger Cain 815.757.9715, Chris Martin 815.742.8471 or Otto Dick 815.440.0639.

03/25/2026

Pictured is the White Pines State Park Lodge, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

The Ogle County Historical Society is partnering with the Highland Community College’s Lifelong Learning program on an event led by instructor, Mark Peterson about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on Thursday, April 16th from 5:00-6:30 in the Sycamore Room at the White Pines Lodge, 6712 W. Pines Rd, Mt. Morris, IL.

Come learn more about the CCC, the most popular New Deal program, which led to greater awareness and appreciation of the outdoors and the nation’s natural resources. Enrollees of the CCC planted nearly 3 billion trees, constructed trails and lodges (including the lodge at White Pines), in more than 800 parks nationwide. After completion of the lodge, it was decided to build a restaurant and breezeway onto the lodge building. Logs for most of the project were shipped via railroad from as far away as Oregon and Washington state, unloaded in Stratford, Illinois and dragged to the construction site by teams of horses. The CCC project also completed sixteen one-room log cabins and three four-bedroom cabins. The work crews also built picnic shelters, trail shelters, and foot bridges. Only the logs for the cabins came from another source. They were purchased from a salvage company that had purchased utility poles from a defunct utility company at the price of 30 cents a piece.

Presenter, Mark Peterson, has been teaching history for Lifelong Learning at Highland Community College since 2017. Peterson is an A U.S. Navy veteran, he served six years aboard ships based in South Carolina and Greece. Mark earned his B.A. and M.A. in History from Southern Illinois University Carbondale before beginning a decades-long teaching career in HVAC controls, history, and adult education. His work has taken him to 41 states, four Canadian provinces, and countries including Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, and France. From 2004 to 2018, he taught Historical Methods for Adult Learning at Concordia University in Beloit, Wisconsin. After retiring in 2009, Mark continued teaching in northern Illinois schools and spent several summers as a campground host at Mt. Rainier National Park. Having traveled to all 50 states and 19 countries, Mark brings global insight and enthusiasm for history to every class he teaches.

An optional guided tour of the cabins after the presentation will be available. The presentation is offered at no cost through a partnership with the Ogle County Historical Society. You can register at this link to help make sure that HCC Lifelong Learning can continue to offer these FREE events.

https://highland.corsizio.com/event/692718fce5df27d0b01e3c9e

HCC Lifelong Learning

https://www.facebook.com/hcclifelong

03/11/2026

The “Those Were the Days” presenter at the Oregon Depot on Saturday, March 28th at 10:00 am will be Riley Jacobsen, known to radio listeners as Riley O'Neil.

Jacobsen grew up in Oregon and is a 1981 graduate of Oregon High School. Riley is the longest-tenured broadcaster in Rockford radio history, having been on the air since 1983. He's also WROK radio's longest serving morning show host, holding court each weekday morning for the last 25 years. He's interviewed 5 presidents, 6 governors, multiple US senators, and countless movie and TV stars. Riley is also a multiple award-winning commercial producer and voiceover artist whose work runs all over the country. Riley has been married to Amy, the love of his life, for almost 35 years. They have 2 adult kids, Spencer and Molly.

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For more information about this or other depot programs, please contact Roger Cain 815.757.9715, Chris Martin 815.742.8472 or Otto Dick 815.440.0639.

03/02/2026

Thank you to Highland Community College for this highlight reel! We look forward to many more presentations here at the Oregon Depot Museum!

02/17/2026

The “Those Were the Days” presenter at the Oregon Depot on Saturday, February 28th at 10:00 am will be Highland Community College’s Lifelong Learning instructor, Mark Peterson. Peterson will speak about the Korean War, exploring Korea's cultural background, the Japanese occupation and post-WWII division. He’ll talk about the events leading to North Korea's attack and review the key battles such as Pusan Perimeter, Inchon, Chosin Reservoir, and Soyang River, while comparing present-day North and South Korea.

Peterson has been teaching history for Lifelong Learning at Highland Community College since 2017. A U.S. Navy veteran, he served six years aboard ships based in South Carolina and Greece. Peterson earned his B.A. and M.A. in History from Southern Illinois University Carbondale before beginning a decades-long teaching career in HVAC controls, history, and adult education. His work has taken him to 41 states, four Canadian provinces, and countries including Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, and France. From 2004 to 2018, he taught Historical Methods for Adult Learning at Concordia University in Beloit, Wisconsin. After retiring in 2009, Peterson continued teaching in northern Illinois schools and spent several summers as a campground host at Mt. Rainier National Park. Having traveled to all 50 states and 19 countries, Peterson brings global insight and enthusiasm for history to every class he teaches.

The Highland Community College’s Lifelong Learning classes offer non-credit, engaging, personal enrichment courses for all ages. Those interested in learning more should contact: Highland Community College Lifelong Learning in Freeport, Illinois by calling the office at 815-599-3403. You can follow them on Facebook: HCC Lifelong Learning. Check out their website. https://highland.edu/lifelong/

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For more information about this or other depot programs, please contact Roger Cain 815.757.9715, Chris Martin 815.742.8472 or Otto Dick 815.440.0639.

02/03/2026

We had a full house this last Saturday! Those Were The Days program by Tom Wadsworth entitled The Great Railroad Transfer Station in Dixon Illinois was a hit! So good to see that many people interested in the local history presented, especially the history of the stagecoach in Illinois. Thank you Tom! Please check out the entire Tom Wadsworth website at https://www.tomwadsworth.com/.

01/20/2026

Last Thursday night the historic Oregon Depot Museum welcomed OCEDC, Ogle County Economic Development Corporation, for a night of brainstorming and discussion.

We at the museum are proud to show off this gem of a destination open every Saturday from 9am – 12pm or by special arrangements. The Depot also offers monthly programs “Those Were The Days” featuring local speakers on the last Saturday of every month. Follow us on Facebook for our latest events and updates!

01/12/2026

Back by popular demand for an encore presentation Saturday, January 31st at 10:00am at the Oregon Illinois Depot, Tom Wadsworth will speak about stagecoach history in northwestern Illinois (1828-1855).

For the first “Those Were The Days” program of 2026, speaker and historian Wadsworth will reveal several discoveries that he learned while researching and writing his 130-page book on local stagecoach history. His research dramatically changed the way he looked at the settling of Dixon and northwestern Illinois. Wadsworth will explain why stagecoaches were Lee and Ogle County’s first modes of public transportation, why most area towns are about 10-15 miles apart, the location of the area’s major stagecoach stops, how stagecoaches would run in the winter and at night, why most area towns were established in groves, the problem of stagecoach robbers in this area and what caused the end of the stagecoach in NW Illinois.

Wadsworth is a nationally known speaker and writer who holds two master’s degrees and a PhD. In recent years, he has given local history presentations for dozens of audiences throughout northwestern Illinois.

Since 2023, Wadsworth has been a local history columnist for the Sterling Gazette and the Dixon Telegraph. The first printing of his new book, Distinctive Dixon: Fascinating Stories of Dixon’s Rich History sold out in only 11 days. The second printing will be available for $35.00 at the Oregon depot program.

For more information about this program or other programs, call Roger Cain 815-757-9715, Chris Martin 815-742-8471 or Otto Dick 815-440-0639.

12/12/2025

Pictured is the Oregon Illinois Depot. The depot president, Roger Cain, took this picture following a snowstorm in December of 2016.

Roger and the rest of the depot board would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! They wanted you to know that there won’t be a December depot program, however, these programs will resume in January of 2026. In January, there are five Saturdays and since the programs are always the last Saturday of the month, the program will be Saturday, January 31st 2026. They will let you know what the program topic will be. They plan a year of wonderful "Those Were The Days" depot programs!

For more information about these programs or if you have an idea for a depot program, please contact Roger Cain 815.757.9715, Chris Martin 815.742.8472 or Otto Dick 815.440.0639.

Oregon Illinois Depot

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