"It has been stated that this city got its name from the fact of a spring and field being near by just west of town. When the authorized persons met and adopted the title of the "Future Great" of the Southwest, several of the earliest settlers had handed in their favorite names, among whom was Kindred Rose, who presented the winning name, "Springfield," in honor of his former home town, Springfield, Tennessee." Prior to 1830s, the native Kickapoo, Delaware, and the Osage tribes had settled in the general area.
On the southeastern side of the city in 1812, about 500 Kickapoo Native Americans built a small village of about 100 wigwams and then abandoned the site in 1828.
Marmaduke sent a message to the Union forces asking that the Confederate casualties have a proper burial.
The city remained under Union control for the remainder of the war.
By 1861, Springfield's population had grown to approximately 2,000 and it had become an important commercial hub.The first settler to the area was John Polk Cambell and his brother who moved to the area in 1829 from Tennessee.He chose the area because of the presence of a natural well that flowed into a small stream.On April 14, 1906, a mob broke into the town jail, then lynched two black men, Horace Duncan and Fred Coker, for allegedly sexually assaulting Mina Edwards, a white woman.Later they returned to the jail and lynched another black man, Will Allen, accused of murder.