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.
33-513: Shady Rest is a 28-acre (110,000 m) natural area on the Sangamon River west of White Heath, Illinois . The landscape includes a river, moraine , a forest with under-story herbs and wildlife, a rail-trail that moves through the site, and cultural history spots. The park is part lowland and part upland . Shady Rest was originally owned and operated by the Price family. In 1985, Mrs. Price, who
66-421: A 'long e' (ē, IPA /i/) sound ("muh-KLEEN"). The first white settlers in what became McLean County arrived around 1821. The first settlement was Blooming Grove, established in 1822 near present-day Bloomington . McLean County was formed on December 25, 1830, out of Tazewell County . It was named for John McLean , United States Senator for Illinois, who died in 1830. According to the U.S. Census Bureau ,
99-588: A 16 foot by 16 foot (4.8 m by 4.8 m) cabin along the river. The following year in 1831, he canoed down the river to homestead on his own near New Salem in Menard County northwest of Springfield. Later that year he floated down the river with companions on a flatboat to the Illinois River , and then following the Mississippi River to New Orleans . Lincoln was impressed by the navigational difficulties on
132-575: A conflict between the Illini and Fox as part of the larger French and Iroquois Wars . French traders were active in the region throughout the middle 18th century when it was part of the Illinois Country . The first U.S. settlers arrived in the region in the 1810s. In 1821, Elijah Iles built a log-framed store, the first commercial building in Springfield. Groups of Cumberland Presbyterians settled
165-604: A convenient rest stop on the HP hiking and biking trail. The rail-bed introduces an element of railroad history. Steam trains took on water from the river at this location. The Monticello Railway Museum (MRRM) abuts the Heartland Pathways trail at White Heath, just a mile away. It is possible that the museum could extend to Shady Rest, giving museum visitors the opportunity to visit a bottomland forest and historic recreational site. Some historic railroad interests would like to extend
198-710: A glacial moraine southeast of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois . Part of the moraine is publicly owned as the Moraine View State Recreation Area . The river's course forms a large arc through central Illinois, first flowing east into Champaign County, Illinois , south through Mahomet , then west through Monticello and Decatur , then turning northwest to flow along the north side of Springfield . It receives Salt Creek at 40°7′33.24″N 89°49′30.36″W / 40.1259000°N 89.8251000°W / 40.1259000; -89.8251000 , approximately 25 miles (40 km) north-northwest of Springfield; then
231-617: A guide and axeman. In later years, he told of taking a steamship three miles (5 km) into the prairie after losing his way on the Sangamon during a flood. During his first campaign for the Illinois General Assembly in 1832, he made navigational improvements on the river a centerpiece of his platform. From 1848 to 1860, Lincoln practiced law in the Illinois Eighth Judicial Circuit, which meant he regularly crossed
264-465: Is an excess of maples that in nature would have been culled by fire (to which maples are susceptible). Two recreation era houses remain on an upland ridge that is part of the Cerro Gordo moraine. One house is occupied, the other is a Price family retreat, and serves as an example of the inexpensive and vernacular cabin-like buildings of the period. The Cerro Gordo Moraine, which runs through Shady Rest,
297-528: Is divided into these townships : McLean County has a twenty-member board representing ten districts within the county. Each district elects two members. Districts 1-3 encompass all of the county outside of Bloomington and Normal. Districts 4-6 are within the town limits of Normal, and districts 7-10 are within Bloomington city limits. Like most of central Illinois, McLean County is historically Republican-leaning. The only Democrats to gain an absolute majority of
330-486: Is the largest county by land area in the U.S. state of Illinois . According to the 2020 Census , it had a population of 170,954. Its county seat is Bloomington . McLean County is included in the Bloomington–Normal , IL Metropolitan Statistical Area . Locally, the second syllable of McLean is pronounced with a 'long a' (ā, IPA /ei/) sound (i.e. "muh-KLAIN") (as with native son McLean Stevenson ), not with
363-524: The 2010 United States Census , there were 169,572 people, 65,104 households, and 40,124 families residing in the county. The population density was 143.3 inhabitants per square mile (55.3/km ). There were 69,656 housing units at an average density of 58.9 per square mile (22.7/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 84.3% white, 7.3% black or African American, 4.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 1.5% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.4% of
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#1732858538204396-591: The Sangamon River State Fish and Wildlife Area , Lincoln's New Salem , Saybrook, and the Sanganois State Fish and Wildlife Area . The river was mentioned in Sufjan Stevens 's song "Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!". Singer songwriter Ben Bedford references the Sangamon in several of his songs, one of which is titled after it. McLean County, Illinois McLean County
429-542: The Lake Michigan Glacial Lobe advanced rapidly, leaving a terminal moraine parallel to the modern Sangamon River. The ice stagnated and melted behind this moraine, without the meltwater overtopping the terminal moraine. Along this stretch, the eastern part of the watershed of the Sangamon therefore consists of short creeks, two to three miles (3–5 km) in length, that drain the face of the moraine. This forms an asymmetric watershed typical of rivers formed along
462-509: The MRRM's tracks to Lodge to join a Norfolk Southern mainline to complete a 23-mile (37 km) tourist circuit south to Monticello and back to the Railway Museum. In its heyday, Shady Rest sported a number of small cabins, a club house, three residences and the space for tenting and recreational activities. In recent years Shady Rest has been used as a retreat. The cabins have been torn down and
495-565: The Piatt County Forest Preserve, with the aid of a Clean Energy Community Foundation Grant. The grant will pay the Forest Preserve to reimburse SVC for the loans that HP and SVC solicited in order for SVC to buy the site. The Piatt County Forest Preserve will then become the owners in perpetuity and caretakers of the site. The grant will pay approximately $ 4,000 per acre to release the people who have made tangible loans to SVC for
528-557: The city was forced to warn people not to allow babies to consume water in Decatur because of "blue baby syndrome", Methemoglobinemia . Decatur has now installed nitrate treatment to avoid this problem. The upper Sangamon, between Mahomet and Monticello, runs along the face of a terminal moraine within the Lake Michigan Glacial Lobe, which ranges in age from 28,000 to 12,000 BP. During the glacial Woodfordian Substage (middle Wisconsin Stage), ice of
561-529: The county has a total area of 1,186 square miles (3,070 km ), of which 1,183 square miles (3,060 km ) is land and 2.9 square miles (7.5 km ) (0.2%) is water. It is the largest county in Illinois by land area and third-largest by total area after Cook and Lake Counties, which have large portions of their areas on Lake Michigan . McLean County is actually larger than the land area of Rhode Island (1045 sq mi). In recent years, average temperatures in
594-572: The county in 2020 with a narrow majority. Further solidifying the county's leftward shift in the 2020s, Governor J. B. Pritzker won the county by 1.3% in 2022 , making it the first time since 1948 it supported a Democrat for governor. In 2024 , Kamala Harris became the first Democratic presidential nominee to win McLean County yet lose the presidential election. McLean County is one of only thirteen counties to have voted for Obama in 2008, Romney in 2012, Trump in 2016, and Biden in 2020. Here
627-657: The county seat of Bloomington have ranged from a low of 14 °F (−10 °C) in January to a high of 86 °F (30 °C) in July, although a record low of −23 °F (−31 °C) was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of 103 °F (39 °C) was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 1.71 inches (43 mm) in February to 4.52 inches (115 mm) in May. As of
660-419: The county's vote before the 21st century have been Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, and Lyndon Johnson by a mere 1.2% in 1964. Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and Illinois resident Barack Obama in 2008 both carried the county by narrow pluralities. In recent years, however, McLean has trended sufficiently Democratic that Hillary Clinton in 2016 lost the county by just 1.3 percent, while Joe Biden won
693-455: The face of a terminal moraine. The river was home to many different groups of Native Americans in the centuries before the arrival of Europeans . The name of the river comes from a Pottawatomie word Sain-guee-mon meaning "where there is plenty to eat." In the 18th century, groups of the Kickapoo settled along the river. In the middle 18th century, the region near the river was the scene of
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#1732858538204726-553: The forest has grown back. The flood plains to the north that are spring-wet and are summer-dry could be used as dry-season trails. When the river is high there is the potential for canoeing on the Sangamon River from Mahomet to Decatur. The site is ideal site for artists and people wanting to enjoy the aesthetics of an outdoor setting. Shady Rest is currently being transferred by the Sangamon Valley Conservancy to
759-427: The population. In terms of ancestry, 31.2% were German , 15.4% were Irish , 11.4% were American , and 11.0% were English . Of the 65,104 households, 31.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.4% were non-families, and 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size
792-469: The preservation. The grant does not cover preservation costs incurred by Heartland Pathways or others in the twenty years prior to the SVC purchase. The transfer of Shady Rest to the Forest Preserve allows a tax base for the natural and cultural restoration, maintenance and interpretation of the park. Sangamon River The river rises from several short headstreams in southern McLean County that arise from
825-496: The river as he traveled around the circuit. The Potawatomi Trail of Death passed through here in 1838. Despite its environmental problems, the Sangamon River is a focus of recreation for the people of Central Illinois. Key parklands along the river, moving from upstream to downstream, include Shady Rest , Robert Allerton Park , the parks bordering Lake Decatur, Rock Springs Conservation Area , Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park, Springfield's Carpenter Park and Riverside Park,
858-557: The river turns west, forming the southern boundary of Mason County with Menard and Cass counties. It joins the Illinois River from the east just north of Beardstown . The Sangamon is impounded in Decatur to form Lake Decatur , constructed in 1920–1922 to provide a water supply for Decatur. This lake, formed by damming the main stem of the river, with no control over upstream land uses, has had major problems with siltation and agricultural pollution . The lake often has excessive nitrate levels from agricultural runoff. Many times
891-448: The river valley beginning in 1825, giving the region a distinctive culture identified and described at the turn of the 20th century by Edgar Lee Masters . Abraham Lincoln arrived with his family in the area in 1830 to settle a section of government land bisected by the river. The site, now Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial , was selected by Lincoln's father after the family migrated from Indiana . The 21-year-old Lincoln helped build
924-501: The river, especially during the arrival of the first steamship , the Talisman , a 150-ton steamer, up the river to Springfield in March 1832. Some sources state that Lincoln himself piloted the first steamship up the Sangamon to Springfield, accomplishing this feat with many men, almost as large as Lincoln, with axes to chop through whatever trees impeded the journey. More likely Lincoln acted as
957-598: The site to return to nature and dedicate it as a natural area. A non-profit organization , the Sangamon Valley Conservancy (SVC), was funded for that purpose by a number of contributors. Additionally, in 2006, a park was established by the Piatt County Forest Preserve District with the use of a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to create a new place to fish, canoe, and hike. The recreational nature of
990-430: The woods remains identifiable by the presence of big and small but no in-between trees. This indicates that the site was at one point cleared of small trees and brush to create a park-like setting. As the site returned to nature the under-story plants have burgeoned, and they make a beautiful display in spring. A number of under-story herbs continue throughout the summer and fall. Settlers sought to suppress fires, so there
1023-474: Was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.02. The median age was 32.1 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 57,642 and the median income for a family was $ 77,093. Males had a median income of $ 52,271 versus $ 39,685 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 28,167. About 6.2% of families and 12.9% of the population were below the poverty line , including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over. McLean County
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1056-403: Was the sole owner after her husband David died, wanted to ensure that the site would be retained as a natural resource and retreat along with the related Heartland Pathways rail bed that runs through the site. Mrs. Price contributed significantly to the purchase of the rail bed. In 1995, after Mrs. Price's death, the formal purchase of Shady Rest was arranged for preservation purposes and to allow
1089-410: Was the southern border of a lake that covered the lowlands extending north to Centreville. Eventually the lake broke through at Shady Rest. This breakthrough formed the Sangamon River, which runs through the site. An abandoned Illinois Central rail-bed trail, owned by Heartland Pathways, runs through the site with a bridge and trestle over the Sangamon River that is an attraction. Shady Rest provides
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