Springfield, MO - Queen City of the Ozarks

[Expat]

Springfield, MO, population of approx 160,000 & metro population of approx 440,000. It is around 200 miles south and west of St. Louis and another world apart. Because my father retired to Springfield, I have had a chance to visit it briefly several times over recent years. Downtown Springfield has been weak & neglected for decades. Springfield has endless sprawlburb type development. They have done a lot to improve downtown and it is showing signs of rebirth. Because downtown Springfield is surrounded by approx 42,000 college students in multiple university & colleges as well as beautiful, leafy residential neighborhoods, I believe the future of the core city is positive.

This was one of the most miserable weeks of my life. I spent most of the week in the hospital tending to my elderly, ill father. It was approx 100 degrees plus relentless humidity - the heat wave. I retained my sanity by looking for the good in Springfield on my trips to and from the hospital -- with camera in hand. Often VERY early in the morning. Here goes:

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4. Downtown Libray


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8. Springfield Cardinals are a farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals


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15. Chapel at St. John's Hospital


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17. Niece's sunglasses in nice coffee shop


18. Commercial Street district is a little downtown several blocks north of the real downtown & Drury University. It is striver's row, but has an artsy vibe, including the LGBT Community Center. And other businesses displaying the rainbow flag.


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25. Footbridge over train tracks


26. Sidetrip to the countryside


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28. Even the cows were hot & trying to stay cool



29. Back to Springfield


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35. This is Pickwick Village - cute little shopping district in nice residential area east of downtown.


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51. I have not seen many Dairy Queens downtown. Nice!


52. Great breakfast spot downtown


53. This restaurant is in the lobby of an old hotel turned loft apartments. Loft apartments are plentiful in downtown Springfield.


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59. This lovely house near downtown has been turned into a Thai restaurant.


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69. Beautiful downtown grocer


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80. Springfield's tallest at 22 stories. John Q. Hammons is the Donald Trump of Springfield. Everything has his name on it.


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Hope you enjoyed this tour of Springfield. Thanks for looking!

[ColDayMan]

Fantastic tour!

[Centropolis]

Sorry to hear about your father.

I've never seen Springfield look this good, what a great tour of town, wow!

Believe it or not, Springfield is almost always slightly cooler than St. Louis because of it's location on the Ozark plateau - plus you can add 3 degrees in South St. Louis City to the reading at Lambert. You end up with a strange situation where it's 6-7 degrees cooler down there in Spfd.

Did you fly into Springfield?

[Matthew]

Hammons is a hotel developer and I seem to remember he paid 100% of the ballpark's cost (pictured in this thread). This explains why his name is on it. Most ballparks use at least some taxpayer money.

[photoLith]

Wow, never made it up to Springfield when I lived in Arkansas, should have gone. It looks pretty sweet and by your photos looks like it has kind of a funky vibe.

[DeBaliviere]

I was all prepared to make some snarky comments about Springfield, but you really did make it look great!

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. You showed Springfield very well. There's some nice terra cotta buildings there.

[JivecitySTL]

Great pics of a town I quite frankly never think about. It was great meeting you last week-- can't wait for the STL pics!!!

[mrherodotus]

Good pics of a place I'll likely never set foot in.

[Blitz]

Nice, I had dinner in Springflield last month but didn't get to see a whole lot of the city. They should've nicknamed their baseball team the Isotopes, heh. I did get to see a whole lot of tornado damage in Joplin on that trip though.

what a pleasant surprise! springfield looks charming, and seems to have a youthful feel that most of central missouri lacks (with the exception of columbia for obvious reasons). when i get back to saint louis permanently i'll have to make a weekend trip (and of course visit silver dollar city and table rock lake while i'm down that way).

looking forward to the STL pics as well! (though i'm sorry for the circumstances that brought you to missouri this time around - i hope things are well for now at least).

[Kingofthehill]

in much better shape than i would have imagined! when can we expect an stl tour?

[Omaharocks]

Originally Posted by Blitz

Nice, I had dinner in Springflield last month but didn't get to see a whole lot of the city. They should've nicknamed their baseball team the Isotopes, heh. I did get to see a whole lot of tornado damage in Joplin on that trip though.

Ha, Albuquerque's triple-A baseball team is the Isotopes - based on that Simpson's reference.

Thanks for the pics, Springfield looks pretty nice!

[ShadowMaster]

Expat, you have a lot of fuel in you, because you are not stopping!

Thanks for this tour of this city. I am liking #63 and #69, and yes, the city is in much better shape than I previously assumed also.

[STLgasm]

Dare I say that Springfield actually looks charming? I'm sure it's scary as hell socially though.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by STLgasm

Dare I say that Springfield actually looks charming? I'm sure it's scary as hell socially though.

I always assumed it was like outstate missouri -- writ large: dumb 'necks, tweakers, missouri "hippie billys," nice folks, a wealthy ruling caste, play dumb folks, and a higher proportion of "defiant 90s alterna-goths" than you would find in a large metropolitan area. The outstate population of missouri seems a little more - how do i put this - lively than the outstate population in some of the nearby more classical midwestern states.
You want scary - a lot of the indigenous population of Columbia freaks me the hell out more than any other outstate area/group besides a classic shortcut on an abandoned logging road (thanks to GPS!) in the ozarks and a pile of shot up dolls (true story).

[Expat]

Thanks to all for the kind comments. It took me a minute to get the Isotope reference - ha! - a good one.

To all who are surprised to see this charming side of Springfield, here is my explanation. The central part of the city, meaning the older, pre-WWII section is as charming as any place. It must have been a lovely city back in those days and appears to have been built with pride. National Boulevard (or avenue or whatever it is) seems to be the spine for the core. Along or near National you will find established old residential neighborhoods, universities, colleges, smaller business districts & downtown. As well as ballparks, art museums and other goodies. Beyond the core, the city has endless expansion that many people would call sprawl. Sometimes luxurious, but never with the charm of the core city. It seems that ordinary citizens don't go downtown. Except to ballgames. Sound familiar?

Obviously, there is a population dedicated to restoring the core city. And they are doing a good job of it. Still a long battle ahead for them, but I am impressed. By the way, I know next to nothing about Springfield, having never lived there myself. Just my humble opinions based on casual & limited observation.

[Expat]

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[Centropolis]

The hardcore Baptist culture in southern MO (and a little western MO) has always really creeped me out. Simiarly, there's also the newer megachurches down there where the guy is jumping around with a headset on and bleached teeth. I don't have any problem with any of this because I don't have to see it, except when they crusade around and get in someones face about their beliefs. The weirdest thing is the punk/metal/indie uber christian youth culture, as featured and satired exquisitely on the cartoon King of the Hill. I don't know if this is how it is in parts of Oklahoma and Texas and it seems strange since it abuts old midwestern and heavy catholic influence or if it's some kind of hotspot. Fortunately, the part of the Ozarks I visit often doesnt have much of this because there arent many people down there at all (St. Francois Mtns), and half of them are recluses from bigger cities around the midwest.

[Expat]

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