Lake Kanagga

Lake Kanagga- Vanished Effingham Recreational Site

The Illinois State Legislature authorized the Effingham County Board in 1847 to build a toll bridge over the Little Wabash River at Ewington, where the National Road crossed the river. When the bridge was completed in 1850, the county board leased the bridge to John H. Knagge, a German immigrant living in the county. He had previously acquired eighty acres in 1847 in Section 30 located nearby. The county board charged Knagge $2.50 per year for a license to collect tolls for those crossing the bridge. He was expected to maintain the bridge from the fees that he collected. Only non-residents of Effingham County were charged a toll. The county board abolished the tolls in 1856.

Knagge operated a gristmill on a lake at the east end of his property along the National Road about 1.5 miles west of Effingham. It was on the south side of the Road and Vandalia Railroad. The lake was later called Lake Knagge. The Vandalia Railroad had acquired his residence and orchard by imminent domain by the time the railroad was completed in 1869. He eventually sold the remainder of his property to the railroad, later to be called the Pennsylvania Railroad.

John had married Sophie Hollied and fathered seven children with her before she died in 1863. He married Anna Marie Flannegan in 1865, while four of his children were still living at home. Knagge later owned property in Effingham and south of town. He sold all of it and moved his family to St. Louis.

When the railroad acquired his property with Lake Knagge on it, officials weren’t sure about how to spell the German name, and it was changed to Lake Kanagga. Postcard publishers who sent photographers to photograph the area labeled the lake with the same spelling or a third version Kanagge.

The railroad company developed the lake area for a place where its steam engines could stop for water for their boilers. Employees of the railroad could use the lake for swimming, boating, and fishing. Cabins were built which could be rented by the week or month. There were piers for the boats and fishermen. Eventually, the general public also used the lake for recreation. This continued into the 1960s when the lake was abandoned, and the cabins and piers were torn down. The lake was filled in, so there is no Lake Kanagga on any modern map. Several local residents recall boating, fishing, swimming and camping at Lake Kanagga.

Clifford J. Vander Yacht of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society contacted Phil Lewis about Lake Kanagga in 2001. The Society has a picture of a west bound locomotive with engine #27 and train #21 passing Lake Kanagga near Effingham in 1907. “Dutch” Andy Ospring was probably the engineer on that train. Phil sent Cliff an image of a Lake Kanagga postcard, which confirmed where the locomotive was. It was previously thought to have been in Eastham, Massachusetts. All of the postcard views are from 1906-1910.

Images courtesy of Phil Lewis and the Historical Collectors' Association for the Effingham County and National Road Museum Association.
Effingham County and National Road community histories by Phil Lewis