Lake Springfield

CWLP constructed a new water purification plant in 1926 and immediately enlarged it a year later. Soon after, city officials realized that something had to be done to supply the growing city with more water than the Sangamon River could provide. The first proposal was to drill more wells, but it would have been too costly, and in the long run it still would not have provided enough water. That led to the only possible solution, a manmade lake.

The effort to build the lake was led by longtime city Utilities Commissioner Willis J. Spaulding. Voters approved a bond referendum in 1930 to pay for part of the lake.  Spaulding Dam is named after the commissioner, who oversaw Springfield’s electric and water departments from 1909 until 1943. In the end, however, federal relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration paid much of the lake’s $5.64 million cost. Most of those who owned land needed for the lake were willing sellers, thanks partly to the Great Depression, but not all. Leander Shoup had to be “escorted from his land by the sheriff and ten deputies,” according to a City Water, Light and Power history of the lake.

Three water sources originally were considered for construction of the lake — the Sangamon River, the South Fork of the Sangamon and the Sugar Creek Valley. Engineers determined that Sugar Creek was the most economical option.

In October 1931 CWLP hired two hundred laborers to begin clearing the land for the lake at a rate of fifty cents an hour, even though the local labor union argued that the wage should be fifty-five cents. Land was cleared from 1931 to 1935, and many miles of roadway, water mains, sewers, and power lines were laid. In addition, construction crews worked to provide the city with a public beach and beach house, six highway bridges, one railroad bridge, and two dams. Construction on the Lakeside Power Station and the Water Purification Plant also began during that period. By December 1933 the lake was ready to begin taking on water from Sugar Creek and its tributary, Lick Creek. It was estimated that it would take approximately seven months to fill the 4,300-acre Lake Springfield, but due to a severe drought, it took eighteen months. Water first ran over the dam spillway at 12:30 a.m. on May 2, 1935. At it fullest point, it contained 21.4 billion gallons of water, covered 4,260 acres, and was a sufficient supply of water for a city with a population of 300,000. At that point, the majority of the construction was complete. All that remained was that of the completion of the Lakeside Power Station, which was finished in March 1936, and the Water Purification Plant, which was finished in October 1936.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Lake Springfield is its creation in the midst of the Great Depression. The jobless rate in Springfield was at an unprecedented high. Labor gangs were organized to assist the building process, and federal programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration, provided millions of dollars to cover lake construction costs and laborers' salaries. President Herbert Hoover pointed out that it was an excellent time to construct public improvements to provide employment and bring the prosperity of the country to a higher level. The Lake Springfield project brought into the city $2.5 million in capital, and $1 million of that went directly to local Springfield labor.

The lake has undergone both drought and flood over the past 80 years. The worst drought, which lasted from 1952 to 1955, drew the lake down 12.5 feet below full pool, reducing its water storage to 7.4 billion gallons and threatening operations of both the power plant complex and the water treatment plant. That prompted construction of an emergency connection to the South Fork to supplement the lake.

The 1950s drought also led to plans to build a second lake as a long-term backup water source. Nearly all the land for Lake II (later named Hunter Lake, after former utilities commissioner John Hunter) had been purchased by the early 21st century. However, bureaucratic hurdles and continuing public doubt about the need for the new lake left it unbuilt as of 2022.

Lake Springfield is a highly ranked fishing lake. Species that are doing well, as of 2016, include:[3]

Other fish found in the lake include blue catfish, black crappie, green sunfish, green sunfish x bluegill hybrid, freshwater drum, redear sunfish, carp, walleye, saugeye, black bullhead and yellow bullhead.[3][4]

• Official website
• Depression-Era History of Lake Springfield

• Robert Mazrim and Curtis Mann, Lake Springfield in Illinois: Public Works and Community Design in the Mid-Twentieth Century (Mount Pleasant, S.C.; America Though Time/Arcadia, 2021). A pictorial history of Lake Springfield.