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Wauconda (wauconda-il.gov) is a village in Lake County, Illinois. The population was 13,603 at the 2010 census. Wauconda highlights are …
1) the Wauconda Bog Nature Preserve, a National Natural Landmark, and
2) Bangs Lake, a natural glacial lake.
Wauconda Community Unit School District 118 serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade who live in Wauconda and surrounding communities (Island Lake, Lakemoor, Volo, and unincorporated sections of McHenry County). Fremont School District 79 also serves students from communities from northern part of Wauconda.
Bangs Lake is a natural glacial lake, and is active all months of the year. In the summer, Bangs Lake hosts many activities including swimming, boating, skiing and fishing. Bangs Lake is home to such species, such as bluegill, channel catfish, largemouth bass, northern pike and yellow perch.
The winter months offer ice skating and ice fishing at Bangs Lake.
The Village of Wauconda monitors the water level in the lake and oversees the weed control efforts, including weed harvesting. The Lake County Health Department Lakes Management Unit issues bathing beach licenses, conducts inspections, and collects water samples at the licensed beaches twice per month from May through September. During the boating season, the Wauconda Police Department patrols the lake with a Marine Patrol Unit. Boating inspections are available either by appointment or on the lake itself. For more information on inspections and associated fees, see Marine Patrol Unit
Bangs Lake is named after Justus Bangs, the first permanent settler in Wauconda. Bangs arrived in the summer of 1836, and also named Wauconda as well, supposedly after a Native American Indian character in a story Bangs had read. However, some believe that Wauconda was named after an Indian chief who is buried on the southern shore of Bangs Lake.
In the early 1900s, the Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda Railroad brought vacationers to Wauconda from Chicago, and the beaches of Bangs Lake continued to be a popular vacation destination through the 1960s. In the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, beach scenes were filmed along the shores of Bangs Lake.
