The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately 246 miles (396 km) long, in central Illinois in the United States. It drains a mostly rural agricultural area and runs through Decatur and past Springfield. The river is associated with the early career of Abraham Lincoln, who was a sometime boatman working on the river, and played an important role in early European settlement of Illinois, when the area around was known as the "Sangamon River Country". The section of the Sangamon River that flows through Robert Allerton Park near Monticello was named a National Natural Landmark in 1971.
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👉 Sangamon River in the context of Lake Springfield
Lake Springfield is a 3,965-acre (16.05 km) reservoir in the southeast of the capital city of Springfield, Illinois. It is 560 ft (170 m) above sea level. The lake was formed by building Spaulding Dam across Sugar Creek, a tributary of the Sangamon River. It is the largest municipally owned body of water in Illinois. The lake and the lands adjoining it are all owned by City Water, Light & Power, the municipal utility for the city of Springfield, which operates the Dallman Power Plant at the lake's north end. Multiple city parks border its more than 50 miles (80 km) of shoreline.
The lake is crossed by several bridges, including the Interstate 55 bridge. Its principal tributaries are Sugar Creek and Lick Creek, and its waters discharge through Spaulding Dam to the lower Sugar Creek valley, which flows into the Sangamon River.
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Sangamon River in the context of Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's seventh-most populous city, the second-most populous outside of the Chicago metropolitan area (after Rockford), and the most populous in Central Illinois. Approximately 208,000 residents live in the Springfield metropolitan area, which consists of all of Sangamon and Menard counties. The city lies in a plain near the Sangamon River north of Lake Springfield. Springfield is the county seat of Sangamon County and is located along historic Route 66.
Springfield was settled by European-Americans in the late 1810s, around the time Illinois became a state. The most famous historic resident was Abraham Lincoln, who lived in Springfield from 1837 until 1861, when he became President of the United States. Major tourist attractions include multiple sites connected with Lincoln, such as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Lincoln Home, the Old State Capitol, the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, and the Lincoln Tomb. Largely on the efforts of Lincoln and other area lawmakers, as well as its central location, Springfield was made the state capital in 1839.
View the full Wikipedia page for Springfield, Illinois