Riverside Park
Managed by City of Springfield
76 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Springfield
96% of residents live within a half mile of a park in Springfield
3.4 miles of mapped trail cross Springfield, 1.8 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Riverside Park (0.8 mi). 51 acres are parks and preserves, 24 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 74% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
5 acres · of 1.9 sq mi of land
Trails
3.4 mi
1.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
51 ac
24 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
96%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Springfield?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Springfield have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Springfield is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Springfield’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical MN town 5% · U.S. 4%C−Trails1.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · MN 0.5 · U.S. 0.4APark land24 acres of park per 1,000 residents (51 acres) · MN 24 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home96% of residents within a half mile of a park · MN 95% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 74%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Riverside Park, with 0.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
East End Park
Park
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Browns Park
Park
2 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
5 conserved acres
under 1% of Springfield’s land. Who manages Springfield’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other state land5 ac
Conservation Easement · 5 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 5 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
Things to do
1 places to go in Springfield
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Campgrounds in Springfield
Rothenburg CampgroundFee · In Riverside Park
DirectionsTrails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
4Tennis
3Baseball
1Basketball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The walking year in Springfield
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 23 | 28 | 41 | 56 | 70 | 79 | 83 | 80 | 74 | 59 | 42 | 28 |
| Rain (in) | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.9 |
January is the driest month (0.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.7 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Springfield →
Next door
Springfield and its neighbors
Springfield has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | under 1% | 1.8 | 24 | 96% | B+ |
| Burnstown Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| North Star Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Springfield
Where can I hike in Springfield?
The longest trail networks: Riverside Park, 0.8 miles; Browns Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Springfield is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 5% for a Minnesota town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Springfield’s trails?
Riverside Park and East End Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Springfield?
359 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Springfield or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 51 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Springfield have?
Ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Springfield neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →