Springfield, Illinois

Where Springfield is

Springfield is the seat of Sangamon County in central Illinois, at 39.78°N, 89.65°W. The Sangamon River, a tributary of the Illinois, passes the north edge of the city, and Lake Springfield, a reservoir built in the 1930s, lies on the southeast side. The surrounding country is flat prairie farmland about 600 ft above sea level. Interstate 55 links the city to Chicago, 200 miles northeast, and St. Louis, 95 miles southwest; Interstate 72 runs east to Champaign and west to the Mississippi.

How it became the capital

Illinois had two earlier capitals. Kaskaskia, a French village on the Mississippi, served from statehood in 1818 until 1820, when the government moved to Vandalia, a new town on the Kaskaskia River. As settlement moved north the legislature agreed in 1837 to relocate to Springfield, a move championed by the Sangamon County delegation known as the Long Nine, whose members included the young Lincoln. The capital transferred in 1839. Lincoln practiced law in Springfield for 24 years, left for Washington in 1861 and was buried in the city's Oak Ridge Cemetery in 1865.

Population

Springfield had 114,394 residents in 2020, sixth among Illinois cities after Chicago, Aurora, Joliet, Naperville and Rockford. Chicago, the largest, had 2,746,388, about 24 times as many. The Springfield metropolitan area, which adds Menard County, has about 208,000 people, under 2 percent of the state's 12,812,508.

The capitol

The Old State Capitol, finished in 1839, is where Lincoln gave the House Divided speech in 1858; it was dismantled and rebuilt in the 1960s and is a state historic site. The current Illinois State Capitol, six blocks west, was begun in 1868 and completed in 1888 to plans by John C. Cochrane and Alfred Piquenard, who also designed the Iowa capitol. Its dome rises 361 ft, taller than the US Capitol, and the building is the tallest non-skyscraper capitol in the country.

Distances to other cities

Springfield is on Central Time, as is all of Illinois.

Related maps

• Illinois map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
• Illinois county map · blank Illinois map · printable Illinois map.
• All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
• Midwest region · East North Central division · Central Time Zone.