It was after midnight on May 2nd of 1935 when Lake Springfield reached full pool (560 feet above sea level) and shortly after the first water spilled or splashed over the dam. The Illinois State Register reported City employees disagreed as to the exact time water flowed over with one reporting water over at 12:30 a.m. and another disputing it actually started officially at 6:30 a.m. as the “previous overflow was merely the whipping of waves over the spillway.” This was a long-awaited occasion as the Dust Bowl drought had delayed this milestone by 18 months. The day prior it was reported it rained three-fourths an inch over a 12-hour period.
The lake was created by the impoundment of water upstream of the Spaulding Dam on Sugar Creek. Construction of the lake was called the City’s largest single project ever undertaken at the time. The new lake has an average depth of 14 feet and a capacity of 21.4 billion gallons of water. It is 12 miles long and 2 miles across at its widest point. The City’s cost to build the lake and its auxiliary public improvements on the City’s marginal lands would be $5.64 million.
In July 1935, the City holds a three-day celebration to commemorate the completion of the lake and dedicate Spaulding Dam and Vachel Lindsay Memorial Bridge.
It would not only become the city’s new source for drinking water with the Water Purification Plant beginning operation in October 1936, but would also serve as a cooling reservoir for the new Lakeside Power Plant. Lakeside Unit 1, a 10 MW generator, and Boiler 1 were fortunately in service before the summer of 1936, which turned out to be the hottest summer in Springfield’s recorded history.
How It Began
An Illinois State Journal Register story reported the official recommendation to build a lake because of the inadequacy of the City’s source of water at the Sangamon River for future needs was presented to a City Commission on May 31, 1923 and formally adopted in 1924. The City then began investigating sites and settled on the Sugar Creek site on the recommendation of engineers.
Special legislation to raise the bonding power of cities to construct lakes for water supply purposes was obtained and passed. Springfield voters approved a $2.5m bond referendum that would make it possible to build Lake Springfield in 1930.
Clearing timber from the land began in fall 1931. In addition to the main dam, it would be necessary to construct a dividing dam to keep water from flowing into Horse Creek at a point near the Sugar Creek basin.
Over the next few years, aside from a Lakeside Power Plant and Water Plant, Lake Springfield and its marginal lands will include two dams, six highway bridges, one railroad bridge, two beaches, a beach house, several public parks, boat docks and fishing piers, miles of scenic roadway, lakeside cottages, a number of clubs and camps, a wildlife preserve, and a nature garden.
