More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #142 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Most of Springfield was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1900 on and old-book passages.
The Springfield post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Spring Vale (1844), Garfield (1881) and Glenbrook (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 31,339225 years
How historic is Springfield?
C
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Springfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).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 27% of U.S. towns, #142 of 253 in Virginia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Springfield’s overall grade.
Virginia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Virginia town has 3.6 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Springfield’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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.
A saw and grist mill was constructed in the vicinity of present-day Springfield between 1796 and 1800. Owned by James Keene, it gave its name to today's Old Keene Mill Road. The mill served farms in the area for around sixty years before its discontinuation when William H. Keene was convicted and imprisoned for the 1855 murder of Lewis Quincy Hall. Nothing remains of it today save for two mill races.
My Dear Judge Humphrey: The celebration of the one hundred and second anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, to be held in the City of Springfield, under the auspices of the Lincoln Centennial Association, is a matter in which I take deep personal interest, and it is with keen regret that I write to say, I will be unable to be present. My health is improving and I fear to jeopardize it by taking so long a trip during the middle of the Winter. Under
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
take me out of a very quiet life. As I said to the President, I am more sorry than I can tell you, that I can not be with you, for I enjoyed so much the celebration which was so splendidly given at Springfield two years ago. Believe me, Very sincerely yours, Honorable J. Otis Humphrey Robert T. Lincoln Springfield, Illinois [39]
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, 1801 to 2007
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Springfield post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Springfield rank for history?
Springfield is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #142 of 253 in Virginia. 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.
How old are the homes in Springfield?
0.4% of Springfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia 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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
