SPRINGFIELD, a city of south-western Missouri, U.S.A., 200 m. S.E. of Kansas City; the county seat of Greene county. It is on Federal highways 6o, 65 and 66; has a municipal airport; and is served by the Frisco and the Missouri Pacific railways. Pop. 39,631 in 1920, 93% native white ; 57,527 in 1930 by the Federal census. The city has a beautiful location on the crest of the Ozark plateau, 1,300 ft. above sea-level, and is surrounded by charming scenery frequently likened to Kent. The region is rich in timber, and is famous for its poultry, dairy products, live stock, apples, strawberries, grapes, peaches and other fruits. There are stone quarries and lead and zinc mines in the vicinity. The city's manufacturing industries, which had an output valued at $21, in 1927, include extensive shops of the Frisco lines, the largest wagon factory west of the Mississippi, and a great variety of smaller plants. Its jobbers and manufacturers do a combined business estimated at 25 to 3o million dollars annually. Bank
clearings amounted to $90,000,00o in 1926, and the city's assessed valuation for 1927 was $43,412,072. Springfield is the seat of Drury college (1873) and the South-west Missouri State Teachers college (1905). Adjoining each other are a National and a Con federate cemetery. Springfield was founded about 1829; laid out in 1833; incorporated as a town in 1838 and again in 1846; and chartered as a city in 1847. It has a commission form of govern ment. At the opening of the Civil War Springfield was an impor tant strategic point. It was occupied alternately by Confederate and Union forces until the spring of 1862, after which the Union ists retained control. The battle of Wilson's Creek (Aug. to, 1861), to m. S. of the city, was one of the bloodiest engagements of the war. The first railroad reached the city in 1870.