Town file
Springfield, Oregon
Springfield, Oregon (Lane County, Oregon) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 141, "The Bart & Milhouse Ritual Killing" (17 October 2019). Springfield, Oregon sits in west central Oregon beside Eugene, separated from it by the Willamette River, and in 1988 it was a timber town of about 40,000 people.
- Town
- Springfield
- County
- Lane County
- State
- Oregon
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 141
- Approximate location
- 44.054, -122.981
Episode 141 / 17 October 2019 / 155 min / full
The Bart & Milhouse Ritual Killing
"This is Springfield, Oregon. Springfield, it's in west central Oregon there. It's near Eugene, which is kind of like right, kind of attached to Eugene." about 0:07:36
The case: Murder of Melissa Ann Meyer (June 1988); Murder of Candace Michelle Roy (June 1988). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2019
- Population
- 60,000
- Median age
- about 35
- Median household income
- $41,700
- Median home value
- $260,200
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $1,010
- Cost of living
- $106,000
- Religious
- 25%
- Property crime
- ▲ almost double
- Violent crime
- right at average
History, in brief
- The Briggs family settled Springfield in 1848; it was incorporated in 1885. about 0:09:43
- The city was named after a spring in a field. about 0:09:52
- The first inhabitants were Kalapuya people, who used controlled burning to manage game and food. about 0:10:17
- William Stevens, partner of Elias Briggs, was the first settler to stake a claim in Springfield, in October 1847, and built a house with his three oldest sons. about 0:12:17
- Elias Briggs and a partner ran a ferry on the nearby Willamette River. about 0:11:59
- Captain Felix Scott Sr also settled in the area. about 0:12:39
- Timber was the town's industry for years; Weyerhaeuser opened a Springfield complex in 1949. about 0:12:50
- The Springfield Creamery opened in 1960, run by Ken Kesey's brother Chuck and Chuck's wife Sue. about 0:13:35
- Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and led the Merry Pranksters. about 0:13:48
- The Grateful Dead played concerts to help save the Springfield Creamery. about 0:16:30
- In 1992 Springfield became the first municipality in the United States to include anti-gay legislation in its charter, after a campaign by the Oregon Citizens Alliance; the state legislature then passed a law preventing such ordinances from being enforced. about 0:16:58
- Springfield is surrounded by filbert orchards, and 98% of American filbert production is harvested in the Willamette Valley. about 0:19:06
- The town held a filbert festival for a while, but it was cancelled in 2007. about 0:19:00
- In 2007, in a vote among 16 Springfields promoting The Simpsons movie, this Springfield took third. about 0:19:36
- In 2012 Matt Groening told Smithsonian Magazine that Springfield, Oregon is the town the Simpsons' Springfield was named after, because he spent time there as a child. about 0:19:38
- The town had 10,000 people in 1950, 41,000 in 1980 and 60,000 today, up 36% since 1990. about 0:20:25
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Alsea, Oregon38 miles
- Eddyville, Oregon56 miles
- Dallas, Oregon62 miles
- Newport, Oregon66 miles
- Colton, Oregon82 miles
- Oak Grove, Oregon95 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.