Springfield

Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city has a total population of 59,403. For the majority of the 20th century the economy of Springfield was largely dependent on the Oregon timber industry. Since the 1990s the economy has diversified with PeaceHealth now the largest employer in the city. The city was named after a natural spring located in a field or prairie within the current city boundaries. In May 1992 the municipality became the first in the U.S. to include anti-gay legislation in its city charter after a campaign by the Oregon Citizens Alliance. The current mayor of Springfield is Sean VanGordon, and the city council members are Nancy Newton, Steve Moe, Marilee Woodrow, and Damien Pitts. Springfield is home to two hospitals, McKenzie-amette Medical Center and Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. In October 98% of American filbert production is harvested in the Willamett Valley. The town used to be sponsor an annual Filbert Festival in early August as a general summer celebration, featuring music, food, and family fun; it was canceled in 2007 due to withdrawal of a key sponsor. In the 1970s, the Grateful Dead avoided bankruptcy with the help of the rock band Grateful Dead, who over time held a series of 10 benefit concerts on behalf of the creamery.

History

The first inhabitants of Springfield were the Kalapuya people. They arrived in 1847. The city's first school was built in 1854. In 1992, the city passed an anti-bullying law. It was the first of its kind in the United States. The law was later repealed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The town is now home to the University of Oregon and the Oregon State College of Art and Design. It is located on the banks of the Willamette River, which runs through the center of the city. The area was once known as the "Kalapuyan" region. The name comes from a word that means "calm" or "peaceful" in Spanish. The word "Kalpuya" means "home" in the Kalpuyan language, which means "land" in English, and "kalpu" is the name of a type of settlement in the area. It means "hill" in Kalpuan, which is also known as "Kalapuayan" in Dutch, and means "house" in Italian. The Kalpauyan people lived in the region from 1848 to the early 1900s, when they moved to the city of Springfield. They lived in a village known as Kalpouyan, which was built on a hilltop. The village was the site of the first public school, which opened in 1855. The first public library was opened in the city in 1858.

Economy

Springfield is home to two hospitals, McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center and PeaceHealth's Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. The city is surrounded by filbert (hazelnut) orchards. 98% of American filbert production is harvested in the Willamette Valley. In the 1990s, the Weyerhaeuser sawmill and veneer (plywood) plants closed, and the paper plant was downsized. According to the City's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are: Kesey's Creamery, Piedmont Bank, and Puyallup Savings & Loan. The City used to be sponsor an annual Filbert Festival in early August as a general summer celebration, featuring music, food, and family fun; it was canceled in 2007 due to withdrawal of a key sponsor. The future for the festival is uncertain. It was shot at the first performance August 27, 1972, of the documentary film Sunshine Daydream, which was shot in Springfield, Oregon, that same year. The film was based on a true story about the life of a young man who grew up in Springfield in the 1950s and 1960s. The documentary film was shot on location at the Springfield Creamery in 1960. The creamery avoided bankruptcy in the 1970s with the help of the rock band Grateful Dead, who over time held a series of 10 benefit concerts on behalf of the creamery. It survives today based partly on sales of their flagship product, Nancy's Yogurt, developed from recipes of Nancy Hamren.

Government

Springfield has a councilmanager form of government. The current mayor of Springfield is Sean VanGordon, and the city manager is Nancy Newton. The city council comprises members from 6 wards. The Springfield Police Department and Eugene Springfield Fire are the city's public safety agencies. The police department is currently under investigation due to allegations of sexual misconduct by a female former officer. The current council members are: Damien Pitts, Steve Moe, Kori Rodley, Marilee Woodrow, Leonard Stoehr, Joe Pishioneri and Marilee Wojciechowski. The mayor's office is located in Springfield's downtown area, on the corner of Main Street and the University of Illinois at Springfield. The council's website is at: http://www.springfield.org/city-council/index.html.

Geography

Springfield has a total area of 15.75 square miles (40.79 km²) The McKenzie River forms the northern city limits. Springfield does not have any official neighborhood designations. Unofficial neighborhood areas include:Gateway, Glenwood, North Springfield, Thurston, and Kelly Butte. The city is home to the Washburne Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also home to Meadowow Park, which was built in the early 1900s, and the North Springfield Cemetery, which dates back to the 18th century. It also has a number of historic homes, many of which date back to at least the early 19th century, including the Springfield House, which stands on the site of Springfield's first post office. The town has a population of 2,816. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 2,715. The area is 15.74 square miles, or 40.77 km², with 0.01 square miles of land and 0.03 km² of water. It has a latitude and longitude of 40.7 miles (74.7 km²), and a latitude/longitude of 74.8 miles (91.2 km²). The city has a water supply of 0.1 square miles. The water supply comes from the McKenzie River, which forms the city limits, which runs through the northern part of the city. It flows through the town of North Springfield.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 59,403 people, 23,665 households, and 14,737 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,774.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,457.1/km²). There were 24,809 housing units at an average density of 1,576.2 per squaremile (608.6/ km²) The racial makeup of the city was 85.9% White, 1.1% African American, 1,4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 5.2% from other races, and 4.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.1%. The city's median age was 34.5 years, and the city's gender makeup was 49.0% male and 51.0%. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the city has a population of 59,401, up from 59,000 in the 1950s. The city is home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a public university with more than 4,000 students. The university is located on the campus of the College of Arts and Sciences, which was founded in 1876. It is one of the oldest public universities in the United States. It was the site of the U.N.’s first public school, which opened in 1875. The U of N. has a history of being a leader in the field of education, especially in science and technology.

Arts and culture

The Richard E. Wildish Community Theater on Main Street in downtown Springfield, a complete renovation of the historic McKenzie Theater, opened in December 2006. The theater seats 284 people and is designed to host music concerts and recitals, dance, drama, festivals and small musicals. The Springfield Public Library is located within city hall. The city hall itself is home to a seal of the city of Springfield, created out of unusual items from the city's sewer system. The seal and its creator, Russell Ziolkowski, were featured on The Tonight Show and On the Road with Charles Kuralt. The author Ken Kesey moved to Springfield when he was young and graduated from Springfield High School before moving on to the nearby University of Oregon. After some years of wandering (described in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe), Kesei bought a farm in nearby Pleasant Hill and remained a prominent local celebrity until his death in 2001. The mayor of Springfield is a former member of the Oregon House of Representatives who served from 1987 to 1991. The state legislature has a history of passing laws that have had a negative impact on the city, such as a ban on the use of alcohol in public places. The governor of Oregon has a long history of supporting the state's arts and culture, including a bill that would have banned alcohol from being sold in state parks and public buildings. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a state law that would ban the sale of alcohol to people under the age of 21.

Education

The Springfield School District is one of the largest in the state. There are 15 elementary, 4 middle, and 4 high schools in the district. The largest public high schools, by enrollment, are Thurston High School and Springfield High School. Pioneer Pacific College also has a campus in the Gateway area of Springfield. The district is located in the central part of the state, near the city of Springfield and the town of Lompoc. The school district is made up of 15 schools, four middle schools, and four high schools.

In popular culture

The city took third in the voting to choose one of the sixteen possible Springfields in the U.S. to host the premiere of The Simpsons Movie. The show's creator, Oregon resident Matt Groening, sent a plaque to the city of Springfield that stated, in part "Yo to Springfield, Oregon the real Springfield." In April 2012, Groening confirmed to Smithsonian magazine that he named the fictional Springfield after Springfield,Oregon. He also confirmed that he intentionally left it a secret to allow people the enjoyment of assuming it was based on their own Springfield. The city took second place in the vote to choose the host city for The Simpsons movie premiere, with Springfield coming in at No. 3 on the list of 16 possible cities. The final city was chosen as Springfield, California, which was chosen by a vote of the city's residents. The film premiered on September 14, 2013, at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. The episode was directed by Bart Simpson and written by Lisa Kogan and executive produced by Lisa and her husband, Mark Carrigan. It is based on the hit series The Simpsons, which first aired in September 1993. The movie was released on September 26, 2013 and was a box-office success, grossing more than $100 million in the United States and around $150 million elsewhere in the world. It was the first film to be produced by The Simpsons' creator, Matt Groensen, who also directed The Godfather and The X-Files.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Springfield, Lane County, Oregon = 51. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 61. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 98. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Springfield = 3.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 1,110 individuals with a median age of 34.4 age the population grows by 6.91% in Springfield, Lane County, Oregon population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 3,897.84 residents per square mile of area (1,504.99/km²). There are average 2.54 people per household in the 22,016 households with an average household income of $40,032 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 13.20% of the available work force and has dropped -5.33% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 16.14%. The number of physicians in Springfield per 100,000 population = 229.3.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Springfield = 46.1 inches and the annual snowfall = 8.8 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 153. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 158. 82 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 33.5 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 66, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Springfield, Lane County, Oregon which are owned by the occupant = 52.02%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 33 years with median home cost = $165,330 and home appreciation of -10.91%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $10.72 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,955 per student. There are 20 students for each teacher in the school, 543 students for each Librarian and 517 students for each Counselor. 7.19% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 9.82% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 4.08% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).