Saving Allerton Park

The Oakley Dam Project was part of a larger trend in American politics to promote industry in the wake of the Cold War through the construction of infrastructure around the country, including dams. Known as the “Big Dam Era,” the Oakley Project was one of these many efforts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage American waterways. The Oakley Dam, located on the Sangamon River in Piatt County, was intended to assist with Decatur’s water supply, control flooding, as well as offering a new recreational area in the form of a reservoir. Originally the project would create an eight-mile-long reservoir, but changes made to the proposal in 1966 would result in a twenty-four-mile-long reservoir, and subsequently, the flooding of over 1,000 acres of Allerton Park.

The estate at Allerton Park was built in 1900 by Robert Henry Allerton on land that his father, Samuel, had bought throughout his life. Robert was an avid art lover and collected many pieces during his travels. The park you see today if full of these treasures. With Robert’s death in 1964, the park was gifted to the University of Illinois for the continued enjoyment of the community. With over 1,500 acres of woodland and prairie, Allerton Park includes some of the last remaining old growth bottomland forests in the state of Illinois. These lowland and upland forests would have been flooded if the dam completed construction.

When visiting Allerton Park in 1967 Bruce and Patricia Hannon heard about this news and immediately sprang into action. They organized a group of community members, called themselves the Committee on Allerton Park (COAP), and began what would be a decades long fight to stop the Oakley Dam.

Initially, the group circulated a petition that quickly gathered over 20,000 signatures from community members. COAP took this petition to the Illinois state legislature, who asked the Army Corps of Engineers to revisit their plans for the dam and justify its construction. Hannon quickly brought on John Paxton and John Marlin to assist, and they began an intense letter writing campaign to local and state representatives. A second petition circulated in 1968 totaled over 80,000 signatures.

But COAP did not stop there. John Marlin published Battle for the Sangamon River in 1970. This text used expert scientific research to argue for the preservation of Allerton Park and became the definitive text for dam opposition groups across the country. They found that the Army Corps had vastly overestimated the Sangamon River’s floodplain and vastly underestimated the costs to build it.

For the next ten years, the Committee on Allerton Park leaders, including Hannon, Marlin, and Paxton, would travel to Washington DC to argue against the dam in front of congressional appropriations hearings. These efforts coincided with growing public interest across the country in environmental preservation and conservation. The National Environmental Policy Act was passed in 1969, which requires all branches of the government to consider environmental impacts of any federal action. The following year marks the very first Earth Day celebrations, which included demonstrations across the United States and signal a powerful public stance on environmental issues.

The Oakley Dam project was finally killed in 1975. Political pressure and the activism of local communities along the Sangamon River was fundamental to this success and spurred countless other similar movements. The Committee on Allerton Park continued their work bringing attention to the waterways of Illinois and the Midwest for years. They eventually shifted to Prairie Rivers Network and persist today in their fight to protect the rivers of Illinois.

The significance of the Oakley Dam project of course is local. But it takes place in a larger story of American Environmental history. The projects in this section do an especially good job of thinking about that larger context, explaining why this project mattered so much beyond just the local impact.

Lake Decatur’s Water Quality: The Oakley Dam Solution by Lydia Fisher

One of the touted benefits of the Oakley Dam was an increase in the water supply for the city of Decatur and an overall improvement to the water quality of the region. As an industrial city, Decatur had long struggled with issues of water pollution, especially excessive nitrates in the water which sparked public concern about possible health issues. The Committee on Allerton Park uncovered that the Army Corps proposal vastly overestimated the positive impacts of the dam and underestimated the negative effects of the project, including the water quality of Decatur. Visit the StoryMap here.

Oakley Dam and the Need for Water by Sandra García López

This project examines if the Oakley Dam would have been able to increase the water supply in Decatur against the larger backdrop of changing water management needs across the United States. The proposed dam would have created a 17-million-gallon reservoir that would have provided more water to Macon County, especially Decatur and its large food processing industry. The Oakley Dam project, and its cancellation in the 1970s, indicates a changing perspective in dam construction, that the ecological impact of dams would need to be evaluated alongside the possible water management benefits. Visit the StoryMap here.

Local Farmer Effort in Fighting Against the Oakley Dam by Harley Schwartz

Local farmers were, and continue to be, deeply invested in the wellbeing of the environment around them. In the fight against the Oakley Dam project farmers, including John Dighton, worked alongside COAP to oppose the project. Dighton argued before Congress that the flooding the dam would cause would impact 12,000 farmers in the region and would devastate their families and the entire economy of Piatt County. It was important that every stakeholder that would be impacted by the project have a voice in the conversation. Visit the StoryMap here.

A Historic Overview of Allerton Park and the Oakley Dam by Josie Stanton

In this project the author looked at the history and the large amount of misinformation that were generated in support of the project. The author traced the University of Illinois’ support, neutrality, then finally, opposition, towards the Oakley Dam. The misinformation on the part of US Army Corps of Engineers is also examined through confidential documents and incorrect information provided to the public by the USACE. Throughout, the Corps of Engineers were proven wrong by their own data and research, which COAP brought up frequently in their materials and testimonies. Visit the StoryMap here.

The Oakley Dam controversy is about individuals acting together. History takes place, as the cliché goes, but history is also made by people. In this section of the exhibit, explore people who made a difference in the fight to save Allerton Park.

Student Activists and the Fight to Save Allerton by Kaiyah Johnson

This project highlighted the role of student groups at the University of Illinois in the opposition to the Oakley Dam project. The 1960s -1970s were a very politically active time for students across the country and coincided with a rise of environmental awareness in the population. The first student environmental organization was Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS) and organized numerous campaigns to support COAP and others fighting against the Oakley Dam. Groups such as these are just one example of the long history of student activism on University of Illinois campuses. Visit the StoryMap here.

Farmer Opposition to the Oakley Dam by Sophie Moran

This project looked at the responses of local farmers to the proposal for the Oakley Dam, specifically those who opposed the dam project despite its alleged benefits to them. After the Second World War there was an increase in agricultural uses of pesticides and chemicals. Constructing the Oakley Dam would have inhibited farmers ability to apply yield-boosting fertilizers to their fields due to the increase in the water reservoir and they would have also lost access to acres and acres of farmland because of the resulting flooding of the area. Farmers felt a sense of stewardship for their lands and were opposed to efforts that would damage the land or diminish their livelihoods. Visit the StoryMap here.

Bruce Hannon’s Environmental Fight by Katie Wooley

This project examined another key figure in the fight against Oakley Dam, Bruce Hannon. The initial leader of the protest, Hannon worked to bring in the support of other environmental organizations through numerous letter campaigns and prolonged correspondence with leaders of other groups. This correspondence survives in the University Archives and offers a unique insight into the inner workings of this early environmental organization. Bruce Hannon’s efforts built a dedicated network of individuals across the Midwest that continue to protect the environment across Illinois. Visit the StoryMap here.

Jack Paxton’s Impact on Allerton Park by Annie Blair

This project examined the crucial role of Jack Paxton in the Committee on Allerton Park’s fight against the Oakley Dam project. As a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Paxton founded the local chapter of the Sierra Club and as a founding member of COAP he led letter-writing campaigns to state legislators, circulated petitions in the community that garnered over 80,000 signatures, and traveled to other universities to gather support for and spread awareness about the Oakley Dam project and its ecological impacts. Jack Paxton was responsible for creating a rich network of activists across the country who worked together to preserve the otherwise overlooked landscape in central Illinois. Visit the StoryMap here.

The partisans of the Oakley Dam controversy focused their arguments on different aspects of the project. Whatever else it was, the Dam controversy was a contest of ideas. These projects focus on the ways that science and expertise and activism were brought to bear on the debate.

COAP’s Expert testimony to the US Congress by Erin Minor

The Committee on Allerton Park was part of the first generation of environmental organizations and became adept at interacting with and influencing policymakers by providing expert knowledge in the form of testimony in public hearings on pending pieces of legislation. COAP had access to many experts through the University of Illinois and utilized that expertise to shape a coherent and credible argument against the Oakley Dam project. Surviving notes from COAP’s testimony before Congress in 1969 shows the detailed planning that went into these presentations and multitude of voices involved. Visit the StoryMap here.

Oakley Dam: A Story of Government Intransigence by Patrick Herr

In this project the author examined why the United State Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) worked so hard to push forward the Oakley Dam and other projects like it. Local interests, such as the Decatur Chamber of Commerce and the representative of Illinois’ 22^nd Congressional District at the time, William Springer, both believed in the economic benefits brought by increased tourism to the area. But the Army Corps existence depended on such projects. Combined these interests were determined to build the dam and it was only through the diligent work of local organizers that the project was ended. Visit the StoryMap here.

The Hidden Impact of Dr. Eldon Franz by Brenden Crowson

In the project the author examined another key figure in the fight against the Oakley Dam: Dr. Eldon Franz. Franz was a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign working on the ecological impact of the increased flooding on plants and vegetation along the Sangamon River. The scientific model that Franz created lent a scientific foundation to the COAP’s fight against the dam. Through an insightful interview with Franz himself, the author uncovers Franz’s role in the effort to stop the dam, from his scientific background to his expert testimony before the Army Corps of Engineers. Visit the StoryMap here.