Weldon Springs State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

located near Clinton, Illinois. It centers on Salt Creek and the impoundment of a tributary, Weldon Springs, to form Weldon Spring Lake, a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

. It is supervised by the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the state parks and state recreation areas, enforces the fishing and game laws of Illinois, regulates Illinois coal mines, ...

Geology and ecology

Weldon Springs is an unusual

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

in the relatively flat ''Grand Prairie'' of central Illinois. The spring is a local reminder of the former presence of an immense buried river valley, the

Teays River The Teays River (pronounced taze) was a major preglacial river that drained much of the present Ohio River watershed, but took a more northerly downstream course. Traces of the Teays across northern Ohio and Indiana are represented by a network ...

, once as large as the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

left behind during the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

buried the valley and its bedrock bluffs below the current earth surface, but much later flows of

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

were forced by this buried geological feature to the surface. Weldon Springs became a

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

with some of the northernmost bald cypress trees in Illinois.

History

In the 1800s, Weldon Springs was the fishing camp of a leading local citizen, Judge Lawrence Weldon. In 1900, Judge Weldon leased the springs to the ''Weldon Springs Company'', which raised $7,500 to redevelop the springs as a Chautauqua. From 1901 until 1921, Weldon Springs - which was served by a branch line of the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

- was a recognized stop on the Chautauqua circuit; for ten days annually, inspirational speakers and entertainers took top billing on the spring garden's outdoor

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

s. National leaders who appeared at Weldon Springs included

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...

, Helen Keller, Carrie Nation, the Rev. Billy Sunday, and President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

. With the increasing availability of personal

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on Track (rail transport), rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of pe ...

s and distribution of movies, the Chautauqua circuit collapsed in the early 1920s. The Weldon family donated the springs to the county seat of Clinton in 1936, and the parcel moved to state ownership in 1948. It is the heart of what is now Weldon Springs State Recreation Area.

Today

When nearby

Logan County, Illinois Logan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 30,305. Its county seat is Lincoln. Logan County comprises the Lincoln, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included i ...

built its first-generation pioneer

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

s in the 1860s, one of the one-room schools was named the ''Union School'' (1865). The name signifies the side Illinois took during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

at the time. After the Union School was consolidated about 1950, the building was moved to Weldon Springs and restored as the state park museum and visitor center. From the Union School and parking lot, more than 7 miles (11 km) of trails fan out. Local hikers will find the largest trees in the Salt Creek bottoms, including the largest tree in the park, a silver maple. The 1.3-mile (2.1 km) Schoolhouse Trail accesses a restored tallgrass prairie which provides habitat for more than 30 different species of

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. More than 80 birdhouses are maintained to provide homes for bluebirds. The spring-fed Weldon Spring Lake is managed for

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 ...

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 ...

, with panfish also present. There is a power limit on the lake, with gasoline-powered motors not allowed. The campgrounds and amphitheaters used during the spring complex's Chautauqua days continue in readiness for use. A disjunct area of the State Park, the Piatt County Unit, comprises two parcels of land in the county of the same name. The parcels protect 770 acres of land, managed for hunting, along 2.3 miles of the Sangamon River. The parcels are adjacent to Allerton Park, a National Natural Landmark river bottomland. Upland and bottomland forests contain silver maples, cottonwood, sycamore, and black walnut trees.https://huntillinois.org/sites/weldon-springs-sp/

2008-2009 temporary shutdown

Weldon Springs State Park was one of eleven state parks slated to close indefinitely on November 1, 2008, due to budget cuts by then-

Illinois Governor The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

Rod Blagojevich Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...

.Dempsey, Pam G.
Governor closing 24 state sites, including Kickapoo State Park
, ''The News Gazette'' (

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

), August 29, 2008, accessed August 31, 2008. After delay, which restored funding for some of the parks, a proposal to close seven state parks and a dozen state historic sites, including Weldon Springs, went ahead on November 30, 2008.Garcia, Monique and Gregory, Ted.
State park closings a tough pill for some to swallow
, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', November 29, 2008, accessed April 12, 2009. After the impeachment of Illinois Governor Blagojevich, new governor Pat Quinn reopened the closed state parks in February 2009.Governor Quinn calls on IDNR to Reopen State Parks
, ( Press release), ''

'', February 26, 2009, accessed April 12, 2009.

References

External links

* * . Retrieved 2008-05-05. {{authority control Chautauqua Protected areas of DeWitt County, Illinois State parks of Illinois Springs of Illinois Protected areas established in 1936 1936 establishments in Illinois