Newest reservoirs in Illinois
The year that a reservoir was first filled to the reservoir’s normal elevation – or the year that a natural lake was first dammed – is the determining factor in the age of the body of water. A large reservoir can take more than a year to fill after its dam is first closed. You can find many of the the world’s newest reservoirs on LakeLubbers in the comparison table below. Many of the world’s oldest reservoirs appear on the last page of that list. Note: For some lakes, the completion year data is unknown, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 64 articles we have published for Illinois lakes.Thinking about booking a Illinois lake vacation home rental, cabin or hotel?
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > Illinois > Compared by newest (youngest) reservoirs and the year it was completed. This list does not represent all lakes in Illinois, only the 64 Illinois lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Completion year |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Evergreen Lake (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1995 | 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… |
| Clinton Lake, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1978 | 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 Glenn Shoals, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1978 | 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 Galena (Illinois, Northern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1975 | Also known as Galena Lake, Galena Reservoir Tucked in a corner of the Northern Region of Illinois, Lake Galena presents one of the finest examples of a well-planned manmade lake. Galena Reservoi… |
| Lake Carroll, IL (Illinois, Northern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1974 | Lake Carroll is a sparkling freshwater lake located in Carroll County, in the northwest corner of Illinois. This private body of water sits in the mid… |
| Rend Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1973 | Rend Lake, located in southern Illinois, is a fantastic place to enjoy all sorts of outdoor recreational activities. This reservoir, the second larges… |
| Kinkaid Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1972 | Kinkaid Lake is a scenic 2,350-acre reservoir surrounded by sandstone bluffs and rolling hills of oaks and hickories on the edge of the Shawnee Nation… |
| Lake Shelbyville, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1971 | 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… |
| East Fork Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1970 | Also known as East Fork Reservoir East Fork Lake, in the Southern Region of Illinois, is a well-kept secret in a land of many secrets. The southern third of Illinois has been known as… |
| Lake Thunderbird, IL (Illinois, Northern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA, Western Illinois) |
1970 | Nestled in the rural Illinois woods, Lake Thunderbird is set in Putnam County, the smallest county in Illinois. The lake, located on the border of the… |
| Fyre Lake, IL (Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA, Western Illinois) |
1969 | A musical artist may have made Fire Lake famous, but he didn’t know about Fyre Lake! Located in the Western Region of Illinois a few miles south of th… |
| Lake Iroquois, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1968 | Also known as Iroquois Lake Three little boys scramble out of the fishing boat while their nervous father says a silent prayer that the boat won’t tip over. It is a ritual they h… |