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First off, let me give you a little back ground about myself. I am a 32 y/o married man. My wife and I own a 1700 sq/ft home in northern IL. Together, we make about $110K a year (combined income). She has a master’s degree and teaches pre-k special and typical education. I only have my associate’s degree. I am an aircraft mechanic for a well-known parcel delivery company. My wife is from Iowa. However, I grew up in the town we live in (Rockford, IL). I moved to Springfield (SPR), to work for this parcel delivery company. I knew my stay in SPR was only temporary. Because of this, my wife stayed in Rockford. I commuted home on the weekends. During my stay, I lived in a small efficiency apartment on E. McDaniel ($400 per month). I have spent the last five months in SPR. I get to leave for good this Friday. If you are thinking about moving to SPR, read this. Here are my thoughts about SPR…………………..
My first impression was SPR is visually an ugly city. For it’s size, it is one of the ugliest cities I have ever visited. Sure the Ozarks are a beautiful part of the country – they are – I will not argue that!!! However, SPR is a city that has no natural beauty. The retail district looks run down, the historic district looks run down, most of the neighborhoods look decrepit, and the downtown area needs lots of work. It seems like there is a brown-grey cloud hovering over the city at all times.
During my time there, I noticed there was a lack of ‘nice’ neighborhoods. Most of the neighborhoods I drove by were comprised of older run down houses, most of which were in need of repair. Sure, there were some decent areas with nice homes. However, it seemed the number of decrepit neighborhoods overshadow the number of nicer neighborhoods. Most of the despair seemed to on the north side of town while heading south from the center things get easier on the eyes. I heard a stat that 27% of the cities population lived at or below the poverty level. I don’t know if this stat is true. However, I think SPR is a ‘poor’ city. There are a great number of people who struggle in this city. This might help explain the condition of the neighborhoods/city. Due to the less than average income, property values and property tax are low in SPR…..really low. If you have a decent income, you can definitely get more house for your dollar compared to other cities in the US.
The commercial districts were no different than the residential areas. The only visually appealing retail district is on the southeast side of town. Despite the breath of fresh air one gets while visiting that side of town, it is apparent that even the southeast area has a good number of dated buildings/plazas that are in need revitalization.
I can say that the city is easy to navigate. It is a basic grid set-up. They have typical north-south and east-west ‘arterial’ roads. It doesn’t take long to figure out which roads are the arteries of the city. Once you learn these roads…….your set!! Another thing I liked about the way SPR was logistically designed is it has a city center square. Ready for the bad part……………for a town it’s size there is a great deal of traffic. Yes, it is an easy town to navigate. However, it will take you forever to get anywhere. I heard a rumor that the city doubles in size at the start of the work-day (from 100K+ to 200K+). This is part of the traffic problem. The reason the city doubles in size is due to the lack of another ‘big’ city in the area and the great number of smaller rural communities that surround SPR. These people come to SPR for work. I don’t know if this phenomenon is true. However, it explains the traffic at the start and end of the work-day. Another traffic issue is speed limits. NOBODY in SPR goes over the speed limit. Most people go 5 mph below the speed limit. The average speed limit in the city is 40 mph – so don’t be in a huge hurry to get anywhere because 35 mph is about as fast as you are going to go with out looking like a jack-ass crazy speed racer. I don’t think people need to speed through the city with out regard to safety. But for crying out loud, a sense of urgency while on the road would be nice. This was really hard for me to get used to since I am used to Chicago suburb, highway, and city traffic. I can say that I44 is easy. The speed limit is 70, most people do 75-80, the condition of the road is good, and people will yield to the right lane to allow faster left lane traffic the ability to pass. Aside from the ease of I44, the only thing I enjoyed about driving while in SPR was the cost of gas. During the oil price peak at the end of 2008, southwest MO enjoyed the lowest price of gas throughout the whole country. Typically, gas is typically the cheapest in this part of US.
Although I didn’t get out much and traveled home for the weekends, I think SPR has fair amount to offer in regards to nightlife and recreation. There are quite a few ‘trendy’ restaurants and bars in the square (downtown center), they have a decent size minor league baseball stadium blocks from the square, they have a couple of small size auditoriums/theatres, and the shopping mall is decent sized and has some OK stores in it. If you love water sports, the Lake of the Ozarks is only 1.5 hours away. Branson is only 45 minutes away, which has a nice chain of lakes as well. Given the natural geography of the area, it is perfect if you love to hunt and fish. For a town it’s size, I think SPR has a decent amount of things to offer in regards to entertainment and recreation. This is ironic because my hometown has far less to offer and Rockford (RFD) is twice the size of SPR. Not to mention, Rockford is only 1 - 1.5 hours away from Chicago, Madison WI, and Milwaukee WI. You would think given RFD’s proximity to Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee RFD would have more to offer in regards to entertainment and nightlife. Be aware that SPR is at least a 3-hour drive to the closest major metropolitan area (St. Louis, Kansas City, or OK City).
There you have it. These are just a few of my observations during my 5-month stay. I wouldn’t move to SPR on my cognizance. However, if I HAD to transfer here for my job I think I would be able to enjoy my life here and make the best of it. SPR could be worse, but it could a whole lot better. If I offended anybody, I am sorry!! Please realize that this is my opinion and individual experiences may vary. Please note that not everything in the list below was discussed in my summary.
Pros
Entertainment – Recreation
Housing Costs – Affordability
I44 – Ease of Navigation
Rural feeling – rural area just outside city
Several colleges in the city
Cons
Poverty – Traffic
3 hour drive to next ‘big’ city
‘Ugly’ city
Baptist denomination is majority
Mediocre (at best) Public Trans
For the most part, I believe that you wrote an objective review of Springfield. However, I will disagree with you on a couple of points.
1. Springfield being a "poor" city. There's definitely a difference between the north and south halves of Springfield, but this is certainly not a poor city. You mentioned seeing mostly run-down neighborhoods. Where did you look? I could start rattling off VERY, VERY affluent neighborhoods in and around Springfield, but the list is quite lengthy. Obviously there are places just like you described as well, but I felt like you painted an inaccurate picture of Springfield to people who haven't been here before.
2. Springfield being an ugly city. This is obviously subjective, but I think it ties back in with #1 above. I get the impression that you saw portions of Springfield and assumed that you had the complete picture. I'd encourage you to look around a little more, because I don't hear many people describe Springfield as an ugly place.
I think you are mostly correct, but the 5 months you were here was the "uglier" time of year. mini-ice storm, no leaves on the trees etc...
there are some really nice areas, there are some really sorry looking areas.
the north part of town where you worked, is the uglier side of town, but for its poor looks, the crime is lower than I would expect for its size and appearance.
Havhon: Pretty fair assessment in my humble opinion. I'm from California (dare I admit that?), and have lived in the area two years.
I'm not sure why predominately "Baptist" is a con, but it is defiinitely a more religiously influenced area. Nothing good or bad in that statement...it just is.
As far as traffic, I do disagree somewhat. Coming from the SF Bay Area, traffic in Springfield is a piece of cake. I laugh when people talk about the traffic on hiway 65 headed south being bad. Yes, it is heavier than off hours, but bad...no. I will agree that there are certain areas at certain times that are awful (Glenstone/Battlefield/Campbell), but in general, I have never found the traffic to be what I would call "bad". And people going 5 miles UNDER the speed limit? Haven't seen that one at all. People are a bit more respectful of the lights, speed limits, and merge laws than I'm used it, but it's okay.
Poor vs ?? I have found several nice neighborhoods "around" Springfield...yes mostly south and mostly on the perimeters. Springfield itself is an older, used to be farm, town. Like many midwest older farm towns they have "that look"..old, small, not affluent looking. Doesn't mean the owners are in poverty, just hat that is the type of house that was built in Springfield and they are fairly inexpensive so one assumes that the people living in the houses are either poor or elderly...probably fair conclusions, but probably not totally accurate either. Springfield, the commercial city areas, are fairly ugly...telephone poles, no sidewalks, few trees, empty commercial buildings, no landscape, etc...many cities this size have put lots of $$$ into making their city areas "pretty". But given Springfield's current economic problems, I doubt that making the city look "newer" isn't a priority.
For the most part, I believe that you wrote an objective review of Springfield. However, I will disagree with you on a couple of points.
1. Springfield being a "poor" city. There's definitely a difference between the north and south halves of Springfield, but this is certainly not a poor city. You mentioned seeing mostly run-down neighborhoods. Where did you look? I could start rattling off VERY, VERY affluent neighborhoods in and around Springfield, but the list is quite lengthy. Obviously there are places just like you described as well, but I felt like you painted an inaccurate picture of Springfield to people who haven't been here before.
2. Springfield being an ugly city. This is obviously subjective, but I think it ties back in with #1 above. I get the impression that you saw portions of Springfield and assumed that you had the complete picture. I'd encourage you to look around a little more, because I don't hear many people describe Springfield as an ugly place.
ditto ditto ditto. IMO Springfield is more like a large town than a city, it really has no urban feel to me at all. (However, I spent the bulk of my life living between NYC and Philadelphia so I am sure that greatly influences my opinion.) I don't think it's ugly at all, IMO. There is a great mix of homes and there are a lot of Tudor style homes, and I love Tudors. And I wouldn't classify Springfield as poor, either. I've seen urban and rural poverty, it's not pretty and while Springfield has a mix of people, I would not classify the city as poor at all. Just regular working class, for the most part; some folks have less than that and some folks have more.
I also want to agree with MrsChiliCook; for the area it's in, Springfield has some serious traffic, but compared to the east/west coasts, it's a breeze.
I also question why the strong Baptist community is considered a negative. I'm not Baptist, but I am Christian, and I find a community with a strong Christian following a definite plus.
I don't mean to criticize the OP, just wanted to give my two cents. To each his own. I can definitely see how some people would like Springfield, and for others, it just wouldn't be their cup of tea.
I lived in various parts of Springfield over a period of about 8 years...it IS a segmented city, where the SE quadrant is overall the best, SW next, NE a mixed bag with lots of light industrial, NW being overall the least desirable. But to call the city "ugly" has me puzzled.
There are lots and lots of nice neighborhoods. University Heights comes to mind. Southern Hills area. Lots and lots of others, even in modest price ranges. I love some of the areas around MSU to the east & south. Lots of greenways: http://www.parkboard.org/info/city_parks/index.html (broken link)
Beautiful parks like Phelps Grove, Galloway, Sequiota, the Nature Center & Springfield Lake, Doling Park on the north side, Fellows Lake, Ritter Springs...not to mention the newcomers like Jordan Valley Park!
The OP certainly has a right to his opinion, but I would respectfully offer MY opinion that being 3 hours to a major city is not a CON... And neither is having a bunch of Baptists as neighbors!
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And neither is having a bunch of Baptists as neighbors! 
