SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Throughout the past two centuries, Springfield has experienced an extraordinary change, evolving from a quaint village into the third-largest city in Missouri. With its origins dating back to the early 1800s, Springfield’s growth has been influenced by a series of notable events that have profoundly shaped its trajectory.
Here’s a timeline of significant events that have happened in the month of February since 1835:
| 1835 | Springfield’s first schoolmaster Joseph Rountree started the area’s first apple orchard after going to Boonville to obtain nursery stock. Later, his holdings were expanded by L.A. Campbell who held 100 acres with 4,700 apple trees, 260 peach trees and 500 pear trees. | |
| 1836 | The first frame home was built in Springfield on this date by Benjamin Cannefax. Previous homes all were built of logs. Until 1835 there was not a sawed plank in Greene County. Just a year later, the first bricks were formed here and citizens were excited as they watched the erection of the first chimney of brick and mortar. | |
| 1838 | On February 19, 1938, Springfield, with a population of 300, was incorporated for the first time. The first government included trustees Joel Haden, D. D. Berry, S .S. Ingram, Robert W. Crawford and Joseph Jones. For some unexplained reason, the city was reincorporated in May, 1846. | |
| 1859 | Bids were taken for a two-story brick college building at the southeast corner of South Campbell and State. Prof. Jacob Schultz of Tennessee was in charge. During the Civil War the building was used as a prison for Confederates. | |
| 1862 | Confederates began to evacuate Springfield as Federal troops again approached. Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis was in command. Union rule was restored. | |
| 1867 | Fire in the northwest corner of Public Square burned Union Press, a grocery, saloon, stagecoach company barn, two warehouses, and a row of Negro cabins in Jordan Valley. | |
| 1878 | First ordinance to number houses in Springfield was passed by the City Council, Feb. 18, 1878. There was a proposal that names of streets be painted on boards and affixed to all corner houses, or, in cases where there were none, to trees, fences, or cedar posts. These were to be eight feet high and provided by the city, but the provision was struck out because of lack of funds. Price to the owner of numbering each house with a “handsome plate” was not to exceed 25 cents, except where the household wanted to furnish a silver plate. | |
| 1879 | Saturday Club was organized; federated in 1896. It is the oldest federated woman’s club west of the Mississippi River. | |
| 1899 | Springfield’s coldest day on record — 29 degrees below zero. | |
| 1906 | Strike starts at the Paul Mueller plant. It became violent before ending. | |
| 1906 | St. John’s Hospital opened at Nichols and Main, in a move from its first site on Washington Avenue. Cornerstone had been laid by Gov. Joseph Folk in impressive ceremonies. Building later was expanded and became Mercy Villa Nursing Home after hospital moved to 1235 East Cherokee on Oct. 2, 1952. Both institutions were established and conducted by the Sisters of Mercy. A new Mercy Villa, adjoining the new hospital tract is under construction. | |
| 1911 | The four-story Frisco Building at Jefferson and Olive was dedicated. Built on the site of Springfield’s first public school building, the building was headquarters for the Frisco Railroad Company until 1964 when it was renamed the Landmark Building. It was near the site that John Polk Campbell first claimed land here in 1829, and it was on that site that Junious Campbell first opened a retail establishment in Springfield in 1830. | |
| 1912 | Springfield’s heaviest recorded snowfall — 20 inches in 18 hours. | |
| 1923 | James Dixon, a former Springfield boy who left here 30 years ago to seek his fortune in New York, is president of and owns controlling interest in the tobacco corporation which owns the United Cigar Stores, together with numerous other tobacco enterprises. A story in The Leader says, “There was a time when Jim carried wood upstairs to his father’s office, which was in the rooms over the present location of the United Cigar Store, South Avenue and the Public Square.” | |
| 1923 | Daily Methodist Episcopal Church destroyed by fire. The church was located at Mount Vernon and South Broadway and was built in 1889. | |
| 1924 | Springfield Police Department vacated old quarters in the Fire Station on College Street and moved to new police headquarters on the city lot facing Market Avenue. | |
| 1930 | American Airways Inc. started a Dallas to New York route. Southwest Air Fast Express, the first airline, is making expansion plans. | |
| 1973 | A group of high school students petitions the Board of Education to add competitive sports for girls. They recommend basketball, swimming and track. | |
| 1980 | Area crippled by 16-inch snowfall. | |
| 1981 | A propane tank on a pickup truck exploded at the Queen City Car Wash, fatally injuring two people and injuring 15. The car was wrecked and several nearby buildings were damaged. | |
| 1983 | About 200 demonstrators braved an ice storm to protest a concert by the heavy metal group Judas Priest at SMSU, but 2500 rock fans showed up. | |
| 1987 | Trooper Russell Harper was killed during a traffic stop southeast of Springfield. Glennon Paul Sweet was arrested 33 hours later, denied the shooting but was sentenced to die. | |
| 1987 | A strike starts at the Paul Mueller plant. It became violent before ending. | |
| 1991 | The Chamber of Commerce, City Utilities, the City, and Business and Development Corporation unite to accelerate economic growth. | |
| 2015 | With all Dillions grocery stores all closed in January and the locations reopen under Price Cutter. | |
| 2015 | Built in 1928, The Missouri Hotel, being used as a homeless shelter, closed. A developer has expressed interest in restoring the hotel, but currently it is still vacant. |