Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States, separated from Eugene, Oregon primarily by the I-5 highway. Springfield was named after a natural spring located in a field or prairie within the current city boundaries. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 52,864. The 2006 estimate is 57,065 residents.
History
Springfield was settled when Elias and Mary Briggs and their family arrived in 1848. They were among the first party to travel to the region via the “Southern Route” by Klamath Lake, over the Cascades, into the Rogue Valley, then north to the Willamette Valley. Elias Briggs along with William Stevens ran a ferry on the nearby Willamette River.
According to donation land claim records, Stevens was the first settler to stake a claim in the Springfield locale, arriving in October of 1847. He commenced building a house with his three oldest sons, and when the house was completed in December, the rest of his family joined him on Christmas day that year.
Another early arrival in the Springfield vicinity was Captain Felix Scott, Sr. who settled between the McKenzie and Willamette rivers in 1847.
In 1854 Springfield School District No. 19 was formed. A small schoolhouse was built near the corner of south 7th and B streets; it served the community until the 1880s. Miss Agnes Stewart, a young woman from Pennsylvania, was the first teacher. She had arrived in Springfield via the Lost Wagon Train of 1853.
The 1860 U.S census listed 399 people as living in Springfield.
In 1861 the worst flooding in recorded history of the Willamette River occurred.
In 1871 the main line of the Oregon and California Railroad bypassed Springfield for Eugene. The story goes that a group of prominent Eugene businessmen paid railroad financier, Ben Holladay, $40,000 to bypass Springfield by crossing the Willamette River near Harrisburg instead of Springfield. Thus began a rivalry that lasts up to the present day.
Springfield was incorporated as a city in 1885. Albert Walker, a blacksmith in town, was Springfield's first mayor.
Because of their closeness, the two cities tend to complement each other: Eugene has the University of Oregon, Springfield a number of lumber mills; Eugene is more liberal, Springfield more conservative; Eugene tends to be upper middle class, whereas Springfield is blue collar.
For years, the economy of Springfield has hinged on the lumber industry, with the largest employer being Weyerhaeuser Company. Weyerhaeuser opened its Springfield complex in 1949, and after years of aggressive logging was forced to downsize as old growth lumber became less available. In the 90's, the Weyerhaeuser sawmill and veneer (plywood) plants closed, and the paper plant was downsized. Springfield has now developed a more diversified economy, and the largest employer may soon prove to be Peace Health, which is in the process of moving their hospital (Sacred Heart Medical Center), and laboratory (
Oregon Medical Laboratories) from Eugene to Springfield.
Author Ken Kesey moved to Springfield at a young age, and graduated from Springfield High School before moving...
