Lakewood Shores, IL

Lakewood Shores is an unincorporated census-designated place in far northwestern Wesley Township, Will County, near the Kankakee River and about two miles south of Wilmington. The 2020 census counted 665 residents inside a compact 0.43-square-mile boundary, with a noticeable share of water. The community grew as a residential subdivision after World War II, when ranch houses began appearing on roughly 155 acres that had previously belonged to C. S. Nowell. Houses faced the river and an inland parallel street, giving the place its shoreline name and its basic layout.

The subdivision sits within a much older rural setting. Wesley Township remained primarily agricultural, while the Kankakee River corridor became part of Kankakee River State Park and nearby roads connected Wilmington, Custer Park, and other small communities. Lakewood Shores children are served by Wilmington Community Unit School District 209U, tying the neighborhood to the larger town's schools. There is no incorporated village government here; the CDP describes a residential community whose identity comes from the river, its lakeshore streets, and the township countryside around it.