Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
Frank Orren Lowden
LOWDEN, FRANK ORREN (1861–1943), inducted between 1920–1936
Born in Minnesota, Frank O. Lowden moved to Iowa as a child and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1885 as valedictorian. He was also valedictorian of his 1887 class at Union College of Law (now Northwestern University), thereafter becoming a successful trial lawyer and a professor at his alma mater. Lowden was a lieutenant colonel during the Spanish American War. He entered politics in 1900, serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention and a member of the Republican National Committee. That same year, Lowden established Sinnissippi Farm, near Oregon, Illinois. He bred Shorthorns and Holsteins, operated a dairy, and planted 500,000 trees on the property. He showed the Grand Champion Shorthorn at the 1908 International Live Stock Exposition and was a director of the International. Frank Lowden was elected governor of Illinois in 1916. During his term, Governor Lowden restructured state government, lowered taxes, enhanced public schools, and improved waterway and road infrastructure. He returned to the farm when his term ended and was a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in both 1920 and 1928.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 130