May 2010
Chamber News A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION
OF THE
GREATER DECATUR CHAMBER
OF
COMMERCE
The City that Made a Lake
“Decatur, Illinois – The City that Made a Lake” is the title of a pamphlet produced by the Association of Commerce around 1930 to entice “anyone seeking a desirable location for a factory, warehouse, district office, distribution center, or for a home” to consider Decatur as an ideal location to valuable asset to local businesses and our live, work, and play. community’s quality of life — and an asset The Association of Commerce — a the Chamber strives hard to preserve. forerunner to today’s Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce — originally A community investment performed the duties of three organizations: Decatur experienced water supply issues economic as early as 1874, when the city development, built its first reservoir. Since tourism, and then, it has been a constant support for local struggle to expand and businesses. The maintain the city’s water creation of the supply to meet the demands Economic of industry and its citizens. Development Corp. In 1919, the Illinois of Decatur-Macon Departments of Public Health County and the and Public Works granted Decatur Area permission for the city to dam Convention and the Sangamon River to create Visitors Bureau a lake. But before the dam allowed the could be constructed, the A.E. Chamber to focus on Staley Manufacturing its core mission of Company’s need for water providing service, became so great that it offered political advocacy, to construct a dam at its own The cover of a 1927 Association of and leadership to expense. Staley was then Commerce brochure promoting the strengthen local consuming an amount of quality of life in Decatur. businesses. water equal to the demand of But throughout its history, the Chamber the entire city and was projected to soon has remained dedicated to enhancing the double that need. quality of life in Decatur. Lake Decatur is a The city nixed this idea since the project
required competitive bidding, but the bids could not go out until a bond issue was approved to secure financing for the project. Staley then offered to build a temporary dam near what is now the bridge carrying U.S. 36 over the lake near Nelson Park. When this plan ran into trouble because of difficulty A re-enactment of the meeting to discuss the construction of a dam completing land purchases, on the Sangamon River was part of the 1923 Lake Decatur the Association of Commerce Celebration pageant. stepped in to rescue the deal and speed up the process of Lake Decatur “The Playground of Central building both the temporary and permanent Illinois.” dams. The Association of Commerce The Chamber proposed the Chamber of organized a corporation to front the city the Commerce Sangamon River Restoration $1 million it needed for the purchase and Plan in 1991 and continues to be an active clearing of river bottom lands, thus allowing community partner to encourage the construction of the lake to move forward. highest use of our manmade resource. Today, in conjunction with the city, the Central Illinois’ Playground Decatur Park District, labor, and the A 1927 brochure produced by the Coalition of Neighborhood Organizations, Association of Commerce to extol Decatur’s the Chamber is once again working to make virtues to visitors and investors capitalized Lake Decatur a tourist attraction. See what is on the latest addition to the community’s being proposed at landscape. The pamphlet’s cover featured www.decaturslakefront.com. an idyllic day at the beach and proclaimed