Springfield, Ohio
Encyclopedia : S : SP : SPR : Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is the county seat of Clark County in the State of Ohio. It is situated on Mad River and Buck Creek, 45 miles west of Columbus. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 65,358. Springfield is home to Wittenberg University, a private liberal-arts college of approximately 2000 students. In 2004, Springfield was chosen an "All-American City."
In 1983, Newsweek featured Springfield in its 50th anniversary issue, entitled, "The American Dream." It chronicled the impact of the past 50 years on five local families.
Geography
Springfield is located at (39.927067, -83.804131)[Geographic references#1GR1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 58.3 km² (22.5 mi²). 58.2 km² (22.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.18%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 65,358 people, 26,254 households, and 16,224 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,123.0/km² (2,908.2/mi²). There were 29,309 housing units at an average density of 503.6/km² (1,304.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.04% White, 18.22% African American, 0.34% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.54% from other races, and 2.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.18% of the population.History
Springfield was founded by James Demint, a former teamster from Kentucky, in 1801. When Clark County was created from parts of Champaign, Madison and Greene Counties, Springfield was designated as county seat in 1818. Springfield beat out the village of New Boston two votes in the state legislature. The first jail in town was guarded by a black bear.Springfield traces its early growth to the National Road, which ended in Springfield for approximately 10 years as politicians wrangled over the path it would continue. Dayton and Eaton, Ohio wanted the road to veer south after Springfield but President Andrew Jackson made the final decision to have the road continue straight west to Richmond, Indiana.
During the mid and late 1800s Springfield was dominated by industrialists including O. S. Kelly, Asa S. Bushnell, James Leffel, P. P. Mast and Benjamin Warder. To promote the products of several of his agricultural equipment company, P. P. Mast started Farm and Fireside magazine. Mast’s publishing company, Mast, Crowell, and Kirkpatrick grew to become Crowell-Collier Publishing Company best known for Collier's Weekly.
At the turn of the century Springfield became know as the "Home City." Several lodges inducing the Masonic Lodge, Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows built homes for orphans and aged members of their order.
From 1916 to 1926, 10 automobiles were manufactured in Springfield. Amongst them: The Bramwell, Brenning, Foos, Frayer-Miller, Kelly Steam, Russell-Springfield and Westcott. The Westcott was a six-cylinder four door sedan manufactured by Burton J. Westcott of the Westcott Motor Car Company. Westcott is better known for having Frank Lloyd Wright design his home in 1905 at 1340 East High Street. The Westcott House a two story stucco and concrete house has all the features of Wright's prairie style including horizontal lines, low pitched roof, and broad eaves. It is the only Wright’s prairie style in the state of Ohio. The property was recently purchased by the F.L. Wright Foundation and was fully restored to its original glory. In October 2005 it opened for guided tours.
Notable natives
The following are notable people born and/or raised in Springfield:- Berenice Abbott - photographer born there, but associated with New York
- Randy Ayers - assistant coach of the Orlando Magic and former head coach of Ohio State and the Philadelphia 76ers
- Dave Burba - major league baseball player
- William R. Burnett - novelist and screenwriter
- Garvin Bushell – musician (saxophone, clarinet, etc.)
- Justin Chambers - former model and actor (in the cast of Grey's Anatomy)
- Jason Collier - professional basketball player
- Mike DeWine - US Senator for Ohio
- Wayne Embry - professional basketball player
- Richard Englefield - symphony composer
- Lillian Gish - actress from the silent era and after
- Robert C. Henry - first African American mayor
- Dustin Hermanson - major league baseball player
- Quentin Jackson - jazz musician
- Elwood V. Jensen – biologist
- Jimmy Journell - major league baseball player
- John Legend (aka John Stephens) - singer, musician, r&b and neo-soul pianist
- Lois Lenski - author and illustrator of children's fiction, including Strawberry Girl
- Johnny Lytle - jazz musician
- John Newbrough - writer of the Oahspe
- Alaina Reed Hall – actress
- Cecil Scott - jazz musician
- Dann Stupp – author
- Sir Charles Thompson - jazz musician
- Tommy Tucker (aka Robert Higginbotham) - jazz musician
- Earle Warren - jazz musician
- Rick White - professional baseball player
- Worthington Whittredge - Hudson River School painter
- Jonathan Winters - actor and comedian
Sister cities
External links
- [Springfield CIty History]
- [Springfield Preservation Alliance]
- [Westcott House]
- [Madonna of the Trail Memorial]
- [City of Springfield]
- [The Business Link to Springfield, Ohio]
- [The Network of Springfield, Ohio]
- [Irish in Springfield, Ohio]
- [1600 WULM-AM Radio]
- [101.7 WKSW-FM Radio]
- [Springfield News-Sun newspaper]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.