Springfield’s post office opened in 1834, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #20 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
65 places in town are on the National Register, among them ten historic districts with 819 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1850.
From Springfield’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Springfield began
When was Springfield founded?
1834
The Springfield post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1838. Five smaller post offices, North Springfield (1871), Junction City (1878) and Galloway (1883), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 415 in 18502020 census: 169,176192 years
How historic is Springfield?
A
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Springfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1838.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Springfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Springfield is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #20 of 247 in Missouri. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Springfield’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Springfield ranks #88 on History.
Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Springfield’s 52.7 sits above most of its state (88% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 895 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1838 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Springfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
13cemeteries and burying grounds inside Springfield
EastlawnGibson-PorterHazelwoodKirkwoodKlinger-Cope at RivermonteLincoln Memorial ParkMaple ParkMissouri State Veterans Cemetery - SpringfieldSaint MarysSpringfield NationalTemple IsraelWestmorelandYarbrough
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Native American peoples had long lived in this area. In the 1830s, the native Osage Nation, the Kickapoo from Indiana, and the Lenape (Delaware) from the mid-Atlantic coast had settled in this general area trying to evade encroachment by European Americans on their lands. The Osage had been the dominant tribe for more than one century in the larger region.
On the southeastern side of the town in 1812, about 500 Kickapoo built a small village of about 100 wigwams. They abandoned the site in 1828.
Ten miles south of the site of Springfield, the Lenape had built a substantial community of houses that borrowed elements of Anglo colonial style from the mid-Atlantic, where some of their people had migrated from.
Passages that mention Springfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Greene County, Missouri ..1883 · page 691Read the page →
Read the text
About six miles from Springfield, on the Springfield and James river bridge road, and on the line of the Springfield and Southern R. R., about three-quarters of a mile above Gallaway station, is a cave of considerable note. From it issues one of the finest streams of water in Greene county and the Southwest, and on account of this spring it became the site of one of the earliest settlements, having been entered in 1840 by Jacob Painter. During the war it was owned by Benj. Brashears, a Confederate soldier and ranger, who is said to have contracted a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Greene County, Missouri ..1883 · page 200Read the page →
Read the text
In May the town of Springfield was re-incorporated, but with boundaries so indefinitely described as to be incomprehensible at this day. (See history of Springfield). In July a county tax of 20 cents on the $100 was levied.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Past and present of Greene County Missouri1915Read the page →
Read the text
for eighteen months; then returned to Columbus and continued his trade with his former employers there, but in time returned to Missouri and worked at the town of Pacific for the South Pacific Railroad Company from 1869 until 1871, in which year he came to Springfield as machinist for the old Atlantic-Pacific railroad, now the Frisco, and after working at his usual trade for six months, he was transferred to St. James, Missouri, as roundhouse foreman, which position he held two years; then worked at Dixon, this state, as roundhouse foreman; then held the same position at Xewburg
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Springfield, 1834 to 1996
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Springfield. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1935Springfield sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Springfield.
Every building
Springfield, building by building, 1884–1910
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Springfield post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1838.
How does Springfield rank for history?
Springfield is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #20 of 247 in Missouri. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Springfield?
65 listings: 50 buildings, among them the Day House (listed 1976, the first), 13 historic districts with 819 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 895 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Springfield?
13% of Springfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1975.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (65), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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