Lake Springfield is a 318-acre artificial cooling lake located in

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

created for the James River Power Plant. It was built by placing a dam on the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

. It now serves as a popular fishing and recreation area. It is one of two sizeable fishing lakes near the city of Springfield, the other is

Fellows Lake Fellows Lake is an source of water for the city of Springfield, Missouri. The lake was created by the impoundment of the Little Sac River behind the Fellows Lake Dam. The dam was originally constructed in 1955 and modified in 1991. The earthen and ...

History

Lake Springfield was created in 1957 with the construction of a dam on the

. The city of Springfield purchased the land before it was submerged. It cost $11.1 million to buy the land and build the dam to create the lake and first two units of the power station. The lake was to be a cooling reservoir for the James River Power plant. Construction on the first two units of the power plant was started in 1957. Three more units were added to the power plant by 1970. Water from the lake was used to cool the steam generators. The city used the creation of the lake to create a large recreational area because the area was in close proximity to the city and the area had previously been used by the public for 75 years. The generators were originally constructed to burn

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

but the federal Fuel Use Act of 1978 forced it to switch to coal. In the 1990s, the Missouri Department of Conservation partnered with City Utilities of Springfield to create a boat ramp, fishing dock, and several fishing platforms and lake accesses. The generator units had a life expectancy of 30 years. In 2015, the power plant was slated to be shut down. The original three generators had already been removed from service to reduce costs. The remaining generator burned natural gas until is closure. The remaining units were demolished in 2022.

Recreation

The lake contains

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

white crappie The white crappie (''Pomoxis annularis'') is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two species of crappies. Alternate common names for the species include goldring and silver perch. is named for the fish. The genus name ''Pomoxis ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

redear sunfish The redear sunfish (''Lepomis microlophus''), also known as the shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinquapin, improved bream, rouge ear sunfish and sun perch) is a freshwater fish in the family Centrarchidae and is native to the southeast ...

, and

channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...

. It is a popular fishing destination for residents of Springfield. Springfield City Utilities limits the size of motor boats to 6-HP because the lake is shallow and large boats would stir up silt. There is a waterfront park with kayaks for rent, fishing docks and fishing jetties.

References

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Geography of Springfield, Missouri

Cooling ponds