Largest lakes & reservoirs in Central Illinois by acres
There is no widely-accepted minimum surface area that defines a lake. What LakeLubbers describes as a lake, you might call a pond. Acreage of a lake (or sometimes square kilometers) is most often measured at the top surface area when the lake is at normal elevation. The surface area can be considerably smaller or larger when lake levels are lower or higher than normal. North America’s Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake by this measure.The other measure of a lake’s size is the lake’s water volume. By that measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is Lake Baikal in Siberia.
You can find many of the world’s largest lakes (acres) on LakeLubbers in the comparison table below. Note: For some lakes, "Largest Lakes - Acres" data is unknown or does not apply, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 15 articles we have published for Central Illinois lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > Illinois > Central Illinois > Compared by surface area in acres. This list does not represent all lakes in Central Illinois, only the 15 Central Illinois lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Surface area in acres |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Shelbyville, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
11,100 ac | Also known as Shelbyville Lake, Shelbyville Reservoir Seventeen miles and thousands of acres of water stretch out in front of power boaters leaving the dam at Lake Shelbyville. In addition to its wide exp… |
| Clinton Lake, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
4,900 ac | Also known as Clinton Reservoir Travel to central Illinois and you’ll find Clinton Lake, a 4,900 acre lake just 3 miles east of Clinton. Though the lake was originally built as a coo… |
| Lake Springfield, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
4,234 ac | Lake Springfield at Springfield, Illinois is the largest municipally owned lake in Illinois at 4,234 acres. City Water, Light & Power built the re… |
| Lake Taylorville, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1,286 ac | Completed in 1962 by the City of Taylorville, Illinois, Lake Taylorville is the city’s source of water and a major recreation facility. The reservoir… |
| Lake Lou Yaeger (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1,269 ac | Also known as Lake Lou, Lou Yaeger Reservoir One of the hidden gems in the central Illinois heartland, Lake Lou Yaeger provides over 1200 acres of recreational enjoyment to residents and visitors… |
| Lake Glenn Shoals, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1,250 ac | Also known as Glenn Shoals Lake Lake Glenn Shoals, also known as Glenn Shoals Lake, is located near Hillsboro, Illinois. The City of Hillsboro built the lake for flood control and wa… |
| Lake Mattoon, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1,065 ac | Surrounded by farmlands in the Central region of Illinois is Lake Mattoon. A quiet and tranquil retreat for many Illinoisans and out-of-towners, the l… |
| Evergreen Lake (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
900 ac | Also known as Evergreen Reservoir One of Central Illinois’ best-kept secret lies just north of Bloomington: Evergreen Lake. When the growing city needed additional water supply in 1971… |
| Lake Sara, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
840 ac | Also known as Sara Reservoir Lake Sara – a refreshing oasis in central Illinois! What does a community like Effingham Illinois do when they run out of water? They build a reservoi… |
| Lake Carlinville, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
355 ac | Also known as Carlinville Lake, Lake 1 and Lake 2 Located in the Central region of Illinois, Lake Carlinville (also known as Carlinville Lake) is a 355-acre lake used for drinking water and recreation… |
| Lake Wildwood IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
220 ac | Build it and they will come’ is the true story behind Lake Wildwood in Central Illinois. As the population grew in the 1960s and 1970s, developers fou… |
| Lake Petersburg, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
191 ac | Also known as Petersburg Lake, Petersburg Reservoir Something in human nature seems to require a water body to feel complete: Lake Petersburg fills that need. The people of Petersburg on the border betw… |