DECATUR - Industry tycoon A. E. Staley faced a serious problem at the dawn of the 20th century.
He was running out of water.
City leaders responded, building Lake Decatur to provide water for the community's residents and industries.
Today, the city is at a similar crossroads.
Industries want assurances they will have an adequate water supply to keep business running smoothly, and the city's water experts want to ensure they have enough water for residents and businesses in times of drought.
And the wisdom and foresight of the city fathers influences the thinking of elected members of the Decatur City Council.
"We had some men of vision back then," Osborne said. "They realized that the future of this community included a lot of water because of the kinds of businesses we had here.
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"That vision brought us to where we are now. We have major industries here, major users of water here, and we need to be visionary as well and see for our future, just as they say for their future years ago.
"For our future, we need to take the same bold steps and recognize that we're building on what they did. We're building on the water supply they needed at that time."
But the lake, which was completed in 1922, wasn't the first attempt to capture more water.
"Even before that, in 1878, there was a wooden dam across the Sangamon," said John Smith, assistant city manager for public services.
Wooden pilings from the dam still can be seen near the entrance to Lincoln Park when water levels are low, Smith said.
"There are parts of it still down there," Smith said.
In 1910, the city put in a concrete dam.
But city leaders soon embarked on a bigger project to secure water.
"It was around 1912 to 1914, as near as I can figure out, that Mr. Staley said he needed more water," Smith said.
A souvenir publication for the lake's dedication in 1923 states, "The Staley Starch works began to grow with a demand for as much water for itself as the whole city was then using, with a prospect of more than doubling its demand."
City leaders expected the community to grow to about 150,000 in coming generations, and elected leaders authorized damming the river at 610 feet.
Citizens voted on March 16, 1920, to issue $376,000 in bonds to pay for the dam.
The community voted overwhelmingly for the project - 3,007 for the project and only 195 opposing it.
"That was just to build the concrete dam alone," Smith said. "They still needed about $1 million to secure over 4,000 acres of land and to take care of the bridges that were over the Sangamon."
The city formed Decatur Water Supply Co., to provide for the additional costs.
"The capital stock was to be $1 million, but $1.2 million was subscribed in five days by the citizens of Decatur," stated a history of the lake published during the community celebration in 1923.
Smith estimates the initial project to build a lake cost a little over $2 million.
Mayor Charles M. Borchers shoveled the first scoop of dirt from the new lake with a silver spade on July 15, 1920.
A souvenir booklet from the 1923 lake celebration states, "Mayor Borchers also cooperated in the purchase of the hundreds of tracts of land, and his fairness, knowledge of real estate values and skill as a negotiator saved the city and company both time and money."
The land taken spanned about 5,400 acres, and a bridge over U.S. 51 had to be raised 14 feet for the expanded water supply.
Thousands attended the four-day community celebration of the lake's dedication in July 1923.
Residents partied with dancing and fireworks and were treated to speed boat exhibits, aquatic sports, and a swimming race refereed by A.E. Staley.
"It sounds to me like that was the very, very first SummerStart," Smith said.
Among the famous guests was Johnny Weissmuller, an Olympic swimmer and star of Tarzan movies.
"He broke a record in swimming when he was here," Smith said.
The completed lake secured a bright future for Decatur and its industries.
But soil erosion around the lake gradually began to threaten the city's water supply.
Topsoil had taken away about a quarter of the lake's storage capacity by 1946, according to historical materials provided by the city.
After two dry years - 1953 and 1954 - the lake reached its record low.
To prevent the problem from happening again, the city installed gates in the dam to control water levels - a feature that can increase lake levels by 5 feet.
The gates help the city keep the lake as full as possible, even when the flow on the Sangamon River slows.
The drought of 1988 spurred a different call to action.
After that dry spell, the city invested in a dredging project that would remove some of the sediment from the lake bottom to increase the lake's capacity.
During the 1990s, the city hired a contractor for a two-year project to dredge Basin 5, which runs alongside Faries Park Golf Course.
And on a sunny June day in 2004, city leaders smashed bottles against the sides of the city's massive dredge equipment to kickoff the $25 million project to improve Lake Decatur.
The dredging continues today.
And the search for additional water also continues.
The Decatur City Council is considering options for providing for the community's future water needs.
Options include building a new lake, accelerating the dredging of silt, and securing water from other community resources.
A final recommendation from engineers is expected back later this month.
The recommendation will be reviewed by the Decatur City Council and the Greater Decatur Water Commission, an advisory board that includes representatives of several governmental groups from throughout Macon County.
Project leaders are studying plans to build a new reservoir called North Lake just northeast of Decatur, accelerate the dredging of Lake Decatur and secure more water from Lake Tokorozawa.
Lowering water treatment plant intakes also could be a cost-effective way to secure more water, project leaders say.
The time to act is drawing near, Osborne said.
"To me, it's no longer a question of whether we need water or not or whether we need to move forward," Osborne said. "It's how are we going to do that now? We've reached about the end of the study period. We have some viable options before us."
Smith praised the foresight of city leaders at the dawn of the twentieth century.
"They planned that to supply water for a new generation and essentially to take us well into the future," Smith said. "They had excellent foresight and planning.
"That's what the council faces now - to plan for the city's water supply to carry us through for another generation."
Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier@herald-review.com or 421-7985.
