Return to Taylor University more serene, somber than I had anticipated

It was almost nine years ago that I first stopped at Taylor University while pursuing a project to visit campuses of Indiana small colleges and universities that fielded football teams. 

The project (including the visit to Taylor) was a rewarding and fulfilling experience. But in the years since 2016 when I concluded the project, it has gnawed at me that I didn't spend nearly as much time as I would have liked at most of the schools while trying to capture their landscape "essence." None of the regrets, however, bothered me as much the failure to photograph the Memorial Prayer Chapel at the Taylor University campus. 

In 2008, the university built the chapel and dedicated it to the four students and one staff member killed in a horrific university van and semitrailer crash on nearby I-69, two miles north of Marion, Ind., in April 2006. Marion is not far from Taylor. One student survived the crash, and her two-months-long case of mistaken identity for one of the fatally injured students became a national and global story. 

In May 2021, I had a chance to correct my oversight. While in Indianapolis visiting family, I took a trip back to Upland and spent a couple hours at Taylor. The campus seemed deserted; the semester must have let out for the spring. Perhaps that aspect was responsible for the somber mood I felt while touring the chapel. There, a wall monument along an outdoor hallway describes on several occasions the individuals' deaths as a form of "home going." 

Not only did I photograph the chapel -- from many angles, including the one you see in the photo leading off the post -- but also other areas I had overlooked or not gotten a chance to photograph on the original visits. I also photographed at least two structures that were erected in the interim years. 

Two of the most prominent of the latter are the LaRita Boren Student Center, which is attached to Rediger Chapel\/Auditorium on the north end of campus, and Breuninger Hall, a coed dormitory, on the south end of campus; it is attached to Gerig Hall, another coed dormitory.

My 2012 visits to Taylor were in fall -- late October for a football game, and early December for the Silent Night tradition. With this third visit coming in spring, I enjoyed a side benefit. I was able to photograph flowers in bloom in the Whipple Azalea Garden, which is on the south end of campus, not far from the Prayer Chapel and Breuninger and Gerig residence halls. The azalea blooms were in colors -- orange and yellow, primarily -- that I had not seen in azaleas before. In the South, most azaleas are pink, red or white, including several pink and one red one on our own property.

To see a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. To view a full gallery of Taylor campus pictures from 2012 and 2021, click on the link in this sentence. 

Above and below: Two views of Whipple Azalea Garden. The one below illustrates its proximity to the Prayer Chapel.

There is an outdoor hallway that dissects the chapel on one side (above). Below are the remembrances of the four students (Brad Larson, Betty Smith, Laurel Erb and Lauren Van Ryn) and staff member Monica Felver killed in the 2006 accident. The center plaque tells the story of that fateful day and the move to build the memorial chapel.    

A gathering room (above) and lectern (below) are on one side of the chapel. Two photographs below you see an interior wall abutting the outdoor hallway. I took the picture for large ornate glass window on the upper portion. The chapel also has a couple small side rooms containing kneelers for individual prayer and meditation (third photo below).  

Above and next two below: On my previous visits, I did not appreciate the beautiful landscaping on south campus, developed around Cane Run, a stream that snakes from just east of the chapel into Taylor Lake on the far south end of campus. 

Cane Run pools in front of Breuninger Hall (center above; Gerig is the red brick structure to the left). The stream drops over a modest brick wall to form a falls (below). 

The new LaRita Boren Campus Center stands in the background of Bond Plaza in the above photo. Below is a closeup of the center's outdoor seating under a pergola equipped with a sun-blocking canvas. 

Above: Perpendicular to the Campus Center (foreground) is Rediger Chapel/Auditorium, which from this view stands beyond the center, just in front of the school's water tower. A straight-on shot appear in the second photo below. In the photo immediately below, a mode of transportation is parked in the slots outside the Campus Center. 

The campus water tower (above), as framed by tree foliage. Below is the new student bookstore (well, it's new to me; it wasn't there when I last visited in 2012). The store, named The Bishop's Nook, is a short jaunt from where the bookstore used to be as part of the former student center (second photo below). That structure featuring a partial glass facade appears to be unused by the community. 

A curious glass artwork (above, with a closeup below) on the back side of Samuel Morris Hall, the front of which is shown in the second photo below. 

I used several photos of Zondervan Library and Rice Bell Tower in my 2012 post. Above is a 2021 look at the bell tower, with Zondervan largely obscured behind the trees in the foreground. Below, the back side of Zondervan as seen from a point near the chapel and Whipple Azalea Garden. 

In my 2012 post, I used a photo of the back side of Euler Science Complex. This is a look at the main entrance, taken from the bottom of a slight hill opposite the fountain outside the building. 

Above and below: I also missed shooting Taylor Lake on my 2012 visits, but I took care of that last week. Other than a young woman and her dog, I was the only person there when I took pictures of the lake.