Springfield history

William is credited for erecting the first cabin in what would become Springfield near the 1200 block of West College Street in February 1830.

The town was incorporated in 1838.

The Lutheran Church founded Wittenberg College in 1845 as both a seminary and college.

In 1850, in response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, John Brown formed his first militant anti-slavery organization in Springfield: The League of Gileadites.

In 1855, the formation of the Republican Party was championed by Samuel Bowles III, publisher of the influential Springfield daily newspaper, The Republican.

In 1856, Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson formed Smith & Wesson to manufacture revolvers.

In 1860, Bowles was on the train to the Republican convention in Chicago where his friend, Springfield lawyer George Ashmun, was elected chairman of the convention that would eventually nominate Abraham Lincoln for president.

The company was established in 1861 by Henson C. Robinson, a general store owner.

In July 1865, the town square was the site of the nation’s first-recorded shootout.

In 1873, America's first postcard was invented in Springfield by the Morgan Envelope Factory.

By 1880, Springfield's population had grown to more than twenty thousand people, primarily because of industrialization.

Even following the Civil War, Springfield remained a locus of early black culture, as the place where Irvine Garland Penn's The Afro-American Press and Its Editors was first published in 1891.

On September 20, 1893, Springfielders Charles and Frank Duryea built and then road-tested the first-ever American, gasoline-powered car in Springfield.

In 1895, the Duryea Motor Wagon won America's first-ever road race – a 54-mile (87 km) race from Chicago to Evanston, Illinois.

In 1901, "Indian" motorcycles (officially spelled Motocycle) were the first successful motorcycle manufacturers in the United States.

Besides for taking designs from Browning’s original 1911, the XD pistols are loaded with tons of outstanding features.

The first building to serve as an indoor basketball court resides at Wilbraham & Monson Academy in suburban Wilbraham, and has since been converted into a dormitory (Smith Hall). In 1912, the first ever specifically crafted basketball was produced in Springfield by the Victor Sporting Goods Company.

Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1920". United States Bureau of the Census.

To resolve the conflict, Woodruff invited Avery to meet with him and B. H. Piepmeier, State Highway Engineer of Missouri, at Woodruff’s office on April 30, 1926.

After passing the Army’s rigorous field tests, the M1 was adopted in 1936 – just in time for World War II.

In 1967, a tract of land was dedicated in Henson C. Robinson’s memory to later become the Henson Robinson Zoo.

On February 17, 1968, The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was opened on the Springfield College campus.

In 1985, it was replaced by a larger facility on the bank of the Connecticut River.

With the passage of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990, a long process of repatriation began.

The XD Series, released in 2001, is the epitome of what an ergonomic CCW can be.

Archived from the original on 9 December 2004.

Archived from the original on March 28, 2007.

Archived June 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

Archived July 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

In 2010, plans were announced to finally reunite Springfield with the Connecticut River.

Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.

After operating for three years without a city plan, Mayor Sarno adopted a privately funded plan known as RebuildSpringfield, which was unveiled in 2012.