October 10, 2024 • 34 mins
There are a lot of towns named Springfield. This week, Will and Mango learned about all of them! From the best Springfield to store your cheese (if you're looking to store 7 million pounds of cheese), to the reason so many Springfields aren't even located on springs, to the craziest mystery that involves cobras in a Springfield. So stuff your face with all the Springfield facts your heart desires! (We've got plenty for everyone.)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. Guess what Will?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What's that Mango?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So the other day I was reading this interview with
Matt Greenig, the creator of The Simpsons, and this was
in Smithsonian. And you know how they never revealed where
the town of Springfield is.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, it's like this running gag throughout.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The show exactly. So the town's geography sort of shifts
as needed to suit the plot. So if you look
across the whole series, which is I can't believe it,
thirty six seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
At this point, God, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Springfield not only has deserts, but glaciers, beaches, swamps, and
according to one episode, the state somehow borders Ohio, Nevada, Maine,
and Kentucky, which is of course geographically impossible.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, I do love the
idea of being a writer on such a huge and
fun show that you just get to mess with the
fans and the viewers all the time. It's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I know, it's amazing. But Granigg actually had a reason
for naming the simpsons hometown Springfield. Apparently, as a kid,
he was a huge fan of Father Knows Best, which
is that nineteen fifties sitcom, and because the show was
set in a fictional place called Springfield, Granegg actually assumed
it took place in his hometown of Springfield, Oregon. But
(01:25):
it wasn't until years later that he found out there
were lots of other Springfields out there, and the one
in Father Knows Best wasn't meant to represent any specific
one of them.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, I see, so Springfield and the Simpsons is inspired
by Grannig's hometown, but it's it's really meant to be
this kind of generic or any town USA.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And Greenig said he wanted viewers in all different Springfields
to have the same experience he did as a kid,
to just assume that the Springfield and their favorite show
was meant to be their Springfield, wherever that might be.
So even after all these years, he's still committed to
the He told Smithsonian, quote, I don't want to ruin
it for people. Whenever people say it's Springfield, Ohio, or Springfield,
(02:06):
Massachusetts or Springfield wherever, I always go, Yep, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
You know, I'd never thought about that way, But it's
actually kind of sweet.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, and it got me wondering, why are there so
many places called Springfield, which town started the trend? And
what if anything, do they have in common? So to
find that out, I thought we could do a WorldWind
tour and visit a whole bunch of Springfield today to
see what we can learn about them. Why don't we
dive in?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome the part time genius. I'm
Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good
friend mangesh hot ticketter And on the other side of
that soundproof glass tucking into what he claims is the
signature dish of spring Filled Illinois. That's our good friend
and producer Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
What is he eating? It looks like, I don't know,
like a pretty decadent open faced sandwich over there.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I did not recognize it. I was asking him
about it earlier and he says, it's something called a
horseshoe sandwich. It was invented at the Leland Hotel. This
was back in the nineteen twenties, so it's around one
hundred years old now, and the name comes from the
fact that it was originally made with slices of ham
that were cut into the shape of a horseshoe. Now,
(03:36):
the thick bread was also served on this sizzling hot platter,
which was meant to represent an anvil, and the French
fries piled on top are supposed to symbolize the nails
and the horseshoe. So there's a whole lot of symbolism
in this dish. But it looks a little weird, but
he seems to be enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And what about that thick layer of cheese sauce that's
on top. What's that supposed to represent?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I think that part is more about the flavor than
the symbolism, and I will confess it looks pretty delicious.
But kudos to Dylan for going the extra mile, as
he always does. And so we ordered this from door Dash,
all the way from a Springfield so many states over.
That's the kind of dedication Dylan is always showing us.
Speaking of which, why did we decide to do an
(04:19):
episode on Springfield's Mango.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well, as I'm sure our listeners know, Springfield has been
in the news a lot lately. It's been tied to
so many weird statements about the place that are incorrect,
But we thought it'd be fun to uncover some weird
facts about Springfield that make the people of various Springfield's proud.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
That's a good reason to do this. Well, to kick
this off, why don't we talk about what a common
name Springfield really is. So, according to the US Board
of Geographic Names, there is at least one town or
city called Springfield in thirty four of the fifty states,
and there are more than forty Springfields in total.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I guess that makes sense. It's like a name here.
But does that make it one of the most common
place names in America?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, you would think so, but actually not. Like if
you include all the populated areas such as neighborhoods unincorporated communities,
we actually have more fair views than anything else. I
wouldn't have guessed that, But if you think about it,
you could probably think of a few of them, nearly
three hundred of them in total. But if you restrict
the search to cities and towns, then Washington is the
(05:25):
number one place. So according to the World Atlas, there
are eighty eight washington spread throughout the country, more than
double the number of Springfields, and most of them are
of course named after Denzel, which totally makes sense. I
love how sometimes we're spreading lives ourselves. But what's surprising, though,
is where the name Springfield comes from. So most of
(05:48):
the nation's springfields actually took their names from Springfield, Massachusetts.
This was a city found that in sixteen thirty six
as the first springfield in the New World, and because
it developed into such an import manufacturing center, the settlers
who passed through and were impressed by the development, they
decided to borrow this name for their own new communities.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So I guess it kind of ends up being this
aspirational good luck charm, like hoping their own towns would
get to be that successful.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, you might assume a
place named Springfield is because of its topographical features, but
in reality it might just be this lingering tribute to
the heyday of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
That's really funny. You know. I have a good friend
named Howard schu and his parents named him that because
they thought it sounded like Howard Hughes and they thought
he might become wealthy by association.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But that's super weird.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
The springfield in Massachusetts, Like, does that one have any springs?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, well, you'll be pleased to hear that because Springfield,
Massachusetts sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River,
he does indeed have some natural springs and some of
the most fertile fields in all of New England. So
no faulse advertising. But weirdly, that's not actually why the
city was named Springfield in the first place.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, of course that would make too much sense. So
I'm guessing there's a Springfield somewhere else that this is
named after.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah. It turns out that almost every English speaking country
in the world has at least one populated area called Springfield.
US of course now has the most, but there are
still multiple Springfields in places like the UK, Ireland, Australia,
South Africa, even Jamaica, and a few other countries including
New Zealand, Canada, Barbados. They all have one Springfield apiece.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
I admired the restraint on their part, But which one
of those is the namesake of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
That would be the one that started it all. This
is Springfield, Essex and England. It's a tiny parish and
it predates the settlement in Massachusetts by at least a
few hundred years. That Springfield took its name from the
many natural springs that flow into the nearby river Chelmer.
Now the Springfield and Essex wasn't even included on maps
in this seventeenth century, so it wasn't exactly on the
(08:05):
short list to have an American settlement named after it.
But then in the sixteen thirties, one of Springfield's hometown
sons wound up founding his own town on the outer
edges of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Now his name was William Penchon,
and in sixteen thirty six he purchased the land on
both sides of the Connecticut River. And this was from
a local native tribe that he made the purchase from.
(08:28):
And at first he kept the Native American name for
the village, which was Agawam, but then in sixteen forty
he decided to change it to Springfield as a way
to honor his birthplace.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Huh. And I'm guessing it developed pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, So by the eighteen hundred, Springfield, Massachusetts had grown
into this great industrial city. An historian named Robert Lee
Ramsey writes, quote, a brood of little Springfields borrowed its
name in all the neighbor states. Then it spread southward
and across the Mountains to Tennessee and Kentucky. Twenty six
American springfields all issued from the loins of an ancient
(09:05):
village in Essex.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
That is both a bizarre trend and so weird that
he brought the word loins into it.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Like he didn't need to do that straight from the loins.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
It does in fitting that Springfield, mass is the firstborn
because it's actually known as the city of first I
didn't realize this until I looked it up. And the
title doesn't come from its name, but from the long
list of innovations that springfielder is produced during the nineteenth
and twentieth century. So actually, let me just run through
a quick list here. Springfield, Massachusetts is known as the
(09:39):
first assembly line in manufacturing, which was pioneered by Thomas Blanchard.
It was used for making gun barrels. It was also
the first in reproducing late for making identical machine parts.
This was Blanchard again. And the first horseless carriage in
America comes from Springfield, which was a steam powered wag,
(10:00):
again also made by Thomas Blanchard.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I feel like maybe you've just put together a list
of things that come from Thomas Blanchart, Like there have
to be some historic first that are tied to other people.
But like, isn't Springfield, Massachusetts actually the birthplace of basketball?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
It's so weird Thomas Blanchard also invented basketball.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
No, I don't think that's true.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Springfield is indeed credited with the creation of basketball. This
was back in the late nineteenth century when the YMCA
was starting to put a greater emphasis on exercise and
physical fitness. So, for instance, the YMCA in Boston installed
the country's first indoor swimming pools. The Y and Holyoak
developed the game of volleyball, and in eighteen ninety one
(10:44):
an instructor in Springfield came up with basketball. His name was,
of course, James Naismith, and he devised the sport as
a way to keep his students active indoors during those
whole New England winters. Now the name of the game
actually refers to peach basket. It's that Nasmith nail to
the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony to serve as goals.
But strangely, he didn't think to cut out the bottoms
(11:07):
of the basket, so for the first several years of
the game, someone had to stand at each end of
the balcony to retrieve the ball from the basket and
put it back into play.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
That is amazing. I do remember much of this because
in seventh grade, one of the first speeches I ever
had to give in front of a class was about
the invention of basketball. So came across some of these
backs in the past. But I do love imagining, like
if the game was still like this today, just two
dudes on ladders at either ends of the court fishing
the ball after every single shot. I love that he
(11:37):
didn't think to maybe put a hole in the bottom
of the basket.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, it's ridiculous. Okay, So we've talked about a fictional springfield,
the world's oldest springfield, and America's first springfield. But I
want to tell you about the one with the most cheese.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Ooh, that teaser feels like the right way to go
to a commercial. So we'll be right back after a
quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're
(12:15):
talking about the weirdest things you never knew about the
many places called springfield. All right, Mango, So you had
this great teaser before the break, and you talked about
the most cheese laden Springfield of them all. So where
we had it? Is it Wisconsin, California, Idaho? Where we're going?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So our next stop is actually Springfield, Missouri, where more
than seven million pounds of cheese are stored year round
in a massive underground warehouse. You may have heard about
this online a few years ago. There was a bunch
of chatter on social media about the Springfield Cheese Caves.
But basically, there's this huge system of man made caverns
(12:54):
hundreds of feet beneath Springfield, and they were originally opened
as a limestone quarry back in nineteen forty sive but
years later, once the mines were spent, the owners decided
to convert the caverns into this giant, enormous, climate controlled
storage center. The warehouse actually spends three point two million
square feet in total, and about fifty different companies red
(13:16):
space there.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Wow, and are all these companies like in the cheese business?
How it feels like a very strangely specific pivot for
a mining company, just like go all in on cheese storage.
Please tell me that's.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
True, So I wish it was. It's not just cheese,
but a sizable portion of the warehouse is dedicated to
dairy products. And that's because the natural temperature of the caves,
about sixty degrees fahrenheit, is ideal for aging certain types
of cheese and for storing dry food products in general.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So what kinds of cheese are we talking about here?
And exactly how much is down there? Like you said,
seven million pounds.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, so that's the number reported by the Springfield Newsleader,
and this is back in twenty twenty two. But it's
worth noting that because of privacy agreements, the warehouse can't
reveal which company is actually leased space there or what
they use it for. But several companies have confirmed their
usage of the cheese caves, including Craft, which uses the
space to age its cheeses, and the Dairy Farmers of America,
(14:14):
who are the true cheese barrens of the Springfield Underground.
For more than thirty years, the DFA has stored cheese
and other dry dairy ingredients in the cave, sometimes as
much as seven million pounds of it for themselves, and
their supply never stays put for long. It's almost like
constantly being sold off to other companies or trucked out
of there, and it's refreshed with new batches it is.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Wild to think there's this whole big dairy operation going
on down there and all these other cold storage caves
all over the country.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, and the people who are living on top of
it kind of never even see it. But luckily, the
Springfield in Missouri has a lot more going for it
than just cheese caves. For instance, it's also home to
the country's last producer of magnetic tape for cassettes, the
National Audio Company, And it's considered the birthplace of Root
sixty six because it was at a nineteen twenty six
(15:04):
meeting in Springfield that that legendary highway got its iconic name.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
That is true, But Mango, you are burying the lead
here because I also read up on Missouri Springfield this week,
and it turns out the town is also famous for
enduring a harrowing cobra siege back in the nineteen fifties.
Did you read about this citywide snake attack. Yeah, it's
pretty much the case. So it all started in the
(15:29):
early fall of nineteen fifty three. There was a homeowner
in Springfield that found a live cobra in his yard
and quickly took it down with his garden hoe, which
I think is the only way you're supposed to kill
a snake. It feels like that's what you hear from everyone.
But then one week later, another cobra was spotted and
killed right across the street. So at that point the
police get involved, and they called in a local science
(15:52):
teacher who was able to identify the species as a
venomous Indian cobra, which obviously isn't native to Masiz So
right off the bat, the police began questioning this guy
named Rio Marr and I may be mispronouncing that name,
but he owned a pet shop about a block away
from where the cobras were spotted. While he admitted to
(16:13):
stocking cobras in his store, he claimed that all the
snakes were accounted for. Now, it seemed unlikely that two
wandering cobras would just slither their way into Springfield and
hang out right outside the local pet shop, but without
any evidence to implicate more, the investigation hit this dead end.
But in the weeks that followed, more and more cobras
(16:34):
began popping up all over town. Can you imagine how
paranoia It's so gross, And of course residents went into
this full blown panic and people were jumping at the
side of every stray stick they came across, and the
town had to get doses of anti venom to help
keep the peace.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
This whole thing feels like such a nightmare, and cobras
are terrifying. Was anyone actually injured by the snakes.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Miraculously, No, but like nine of the eleven cobras that
appeared in Springfield, that eleven as lucky eleven eleven cobras,
so most of them were dispatched with garden hose, just
like the first one. But two of the snakes were
repeatedly run over with cars and yes, again repeatedly run
(17:23):
over with cars, which I sort of get it when
you're that scared of it, but another was crushed by
a rock. I love that I have the list of
how all of them I just posed stuff, And one
especially hardy cobra was actually tear gassed, shot five times
and then hit with the garden hoe, which I know
is actually sort of making me sad to read about that,
but it's also just so ridiculous. I think that might
(17:45):
have been a little bit of an overreaction.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Is so sad, but I mean, also it almost feels
like the garden hoe industry was behind it.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Good point.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, so this feels like a problem that a local
pet store was like stalking pet cobras to begin with.
But did they ever find out where all these cobras
came from?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So they did, but get this, it wasn't until thirty
five years later. So during that time, locals continued to
suspect that Moore was responsible for the cobra scare, but
he maintained his innocence all the way to his death
in the nineteen seventies. Then in nineteen eighty eight, once
the statute of limitations had long expired, the real culprit
(18:31):
came forward. It was this local man named Carl Barnett,
and he had been fourteen years old in the fall
of nineteen fifty three, and he had orchestrated the cobra
scare as revenge against the pet store owner. How crazy
is this like.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
A plot twist?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
It really is. According to Carl's confession, he had procured
an exotic fish from more as part of a trade.
But then when the fish died a few hours later,
the pet shop owner told him, you know, tough luck,
A deal is a deal, And on his way out
of the store, Carl spotted a crate of snakes out back,
and as a way to get even with the clerk
(19:06):
who had wronged them, he set them all free. I mean,
talk about revenge.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
That is so insane and it almost sounds like the
beginning of like a super villain origin story.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
It's so yeah, I expect somebody like it bit and
then they turn into the Phobra or something. But I
do want to mention that, according to Carl, he did
not know the snakes were venomous when he turned them loose.
But anyway, I know we've got lots more to say
about Springfield's but let's take another quick break.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Okay, Well, so we've talked about Springfield, mass the city
of first and Springfield, Missouri, the city of cheese and cobras,
one of the lesser known cheese pairings out there. But
let's talk about the Springfield that's in the news right now, Springfield, Ohio,
which actually has three famous monikers over the years, the
Home City, the Champion City, and the City of Roses.
(20:12):
I know we split this one up, but where do
you want to start?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
All right? Well, why don't we start with the home city?
Because while two of the names have to do with
the rich agricultural history of Springfield. The Home City is
kind of the outlier here, so it actually refers to
the period in the early twentieth century when fraternal organizations
were highly active in this area. So you had groups
like the Masonic Lodge and the Oddfellows and the Knights
(20:37):
of Pathias, and they were looking for ways to give
back to the community and show that they were more
than just these social clubs. So to do this, each
lodge built a series of homes in Springfield to shelter
local orphans as well as aging members of their respective orders.
So although Springfield is now facing a major housing shortage
along with many other parts of the country, there was
(20:59):
a time when housing the needy was a top priority
for the town, so much so that it earned the
nickname Home City.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
That's really kind of sweet. So maybe the real way
to solve the housing crisis is for everyone to join
a fraternal order. Again, think you assume that's what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm getting at. So I'm now
going to list out all of your options for fraternal organizations.
Will post it at the end of this episode. But
that's a pretty funny idea.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So getting back to nicknames, Springfield's first and longest lasting
nickname was the Champion City, and it wasn't because of
a famous sports team or a pivotal battle, but because
of the Champion Reaper Company. Now in the mid eighteen hundreds,
a local entrepreneur named William Whitelee invented a combination reaper
and mower, which quickly revolutionized the agricultural industry and led
(21:49):
to an economic boom in Springfield. The Champion Company's manufacturing
success put the town on the map for the next
fifty years or so, and after merging with several other
companies to become in an out national harvester in nineteen
oh two, they remained at the forefront of that agricultural
machinery business while also branching out into truck production. All
these years later, the company, now known as International Motors,
(22:12):
still has a truck plant in Springfield, and it remains
one of the town's largest employers.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You Know, it is nice to hear that that industrial
legacy is still alive and kicking, you know. Unfortunately, this
same can't be said for Springfield's once thriving floral industry.
And this was news to me, but apparently the town
was once one of the nation's top rose growers for
almost a century, and the catalyst for all of that
growth was an innovative shipping process that allowed these young
(22:41):
and dormant rose bushes to be shipped safely by rail
all across the country. And once the process was introduced
in the late eighteen seventies, a multimillion dollar mail order
business sprang up almost overnight, and so for about seventy
years or so, Springfield grew and shipped more roses than
any other city in the US. According to this nineteen
(23:03):
nineteen publication from the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the city's
thirty three greenhouses produced approximately nine million, six hundred and
thirty seven thousand roses every single year. Wow, And if
you counted all the greenhouses in the greater Clark County area,
the total was substantially higher.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That's fascinating. But you said that's no longer the case today, right.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, that's right. So by the nineteen thirties, the Springfield
rose industry was facing some, you know, stiff competition from
other growers who had honed in on their market, and
to make matters worse, the advent of the airplane meant
that shipping roses by rail was no longer really the
fastest or even the safest method, and so as a result,
Springfield's floral industry withered by the end of the decade,
(23:47):
and really by the early nineteen fifties, most of the
town's commercial greenhouses had closed down for good.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Sadly, yeah, that is said, but how about we close
this on a more hopeful note, because the death of
the industry wasn't the end of Springfield's agricultural legacy. And
that's because the town. I did not know this before
this research. The town is actually the birthplace for four
H clubs.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
No kidding. So how did that come about?
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So it started as the brainchild of this person named
Albert Belmont Graham. He served as superintendent of schools in Springfield,
and this was at the turn of the twentieth century.
He was a huge proponent of agriculture as a means
of developing youth, both kind of as a way to
make more responsible individuals, but also to turn them into
more productive members of the community. So in nineteen oh
(24:36):
two he held a meeting with about thirty boys and
girls in the county courthouse basement, and together they started
investigating all the ins and outs of agriculture, from how
to plant a garden to how to identify local wildlife
like weeds and insects. And for the first couple of years,
the group called itself the Boys and Girls Agricultural Club,
and the Springfield Club was the one and only chapter.
(24:58):
But once Ohio State University caught wind of this program,
the college used its influence to help establish new branches
throughout the entire state, and by nineteen oh five, there
were more than two thousand kids within sixteen counties taking
part of the program. It proved so popular that in
nineteen sixteen, the state established the Department of Boys and
(25:19):
Girls Club Work, marking the official start of the Ohio
four Age Program.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Wow, you know, I actually saw a four age sign
not too long ago, and I was trying to remember
what do those four ages stand for?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, I was curious about that too, and it spelled
out in the group's official pledge. It goes, I pledged
my head to clear thinking, my heart to a greater loyalty,
my hands to larger service, my health to better living
for my club, my community, my country, and my world.
And although the four Age program has since spread to
(25:53):
all fifty states and even abroad to more than eighty countries.
Its heritage belongs squarely to Ohio and Ringfield in particular,
and since there are no cultural or economic or social
restrictions on four age membership, many young Springfielders today still
take the pledge and work side by side with one another,
native born and foreign transplants alike.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
That was a good way to wrap this one up.
Thanks for ending on a high note. But before we
go for the day, I feel like we should run
through a few more Springfields in today's fact off.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okay, here's something I never knew before this week. So,
the state of Illinois actually went through two different capitals
before finally landing on Springfield. The first town, Kaskilaskia, only
held the title for a year or so after Illinois
entered the Union. This was in eighteen eighteen, but the
second one, Van Dalia, would still likely be the seat
(26:55):
of power today if not for a little known guy
named Abraham Lincoln. He and his fellow state legislators felt
the capital should be closer to the geographical center of
the state. So in eighteen thirty seven, Lincoln introduced a
measure that would move the capital to Springfield, which conveniently
was also where he lived and practiced law. And the
(27:15):
legislation was backed by eight of Lincoln's colleagues and the
Whig Party, And because each one of them stood at
least six feet tall, the press started referring to them
as the Long nine. And thanks to their prodigious height
and a few political favors, those lanky statesmen were able
to push through a bill and relocate the Illinois capital
for a second time, and by the end of eighteen
(27:38):
thirty nine, the state government had officially set up shop
in Springfield and it has remained there ever since.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
That is so weird. I've never heard of Vandalia or
another town you mentioned in Illinois. It's funny how state
capitals end up being like the lesser known cities sometimes.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Also the idea of these this what was it, nine
people being over six feet tall at that point, it
just feels like there weren't that many people that would
have been six feet tall then, I.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Know, before basketball, so right exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, back to Naysmith, he invented that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So here's a funny one I found out about the
naming of Springfield, Missouri way back in eighteen thirty three,
and this comes from a book called Our Storehouse of
Missouri place Names, and it says, quote, everybody in Green
County was invited to come in and vote their choice
of a name for the county seat. James Wilson had
a jug of white whiskey, and as fast as the
(28:34):
people came in, he took them over to his tent
and said, I was born and raised in a beautiful
little town in Massachusetts named Springfield, and it would please
me very much if you would go over and vote
to name this town Springfield. Then he produced his jug,
and needless to say, Wilson had his way.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I mean, I can't say that that his method seems
like the best, but it does help explain why a
bunch of Southerners would adopt the name from New England.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, I mean, whiskey can be pretty persuasive.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
All right, Well, switching gears a little. My next fact
isn't about a place called Springfield. It's about a band
called Springfield Buffalo Springfield. Of course. Now, most people assume
the band's name was a nod to American cities, but
according to the liner notes of their box set, the
inspiration was actually a steamroller made by Buffalo's Springfield Roller Company,
(29:23):
and the band saw one of the rollers parked outside
the window of where they were staying, and they thought
it had a nice ring to it. And so, to
bring this full circle, the company that made the steamroller
was actually the result of a merger between two separate businesses,
one based in Buffalo, New York and the other in Springfield, Ohio. So,
in a roundabout way, the band is named for a
(29:45):
Springfield after all.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That's pretty interesting. Well, speaking of going full circle, back
in two thousand and seven, twentieth Century Fox was publicizing
the Simpsons movie, and part of the way they did
this was by donating an eleven half foot fiberglass donut
to the city of Springfield, New Zealand. This colossal breakfast
street was proudly displayed in a public park for the
(30:09):
next two years, but in two thousand and nine, a
fun hating arsonist torched the donut, Rainbow sprinkles and all.
There was a brief, sad interim where the town used
a big pink truck tire as a temporary replacement, but
thankfully the Fox movie Studio came through with a new,
much sturdier concrete donut and it still stands in the
(30:31):
town today.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Wow, that's pretty good. But I will see your giant
donut and I will raise you a giant fork. So
the second tallest fork in the world. The second tallest
fork in the world. He's thirty five feet tall, weighs
eleven tons, and proudly stands times down outside of an
agency headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. It was originally built in
(30:54):
the late nineties to promote a now closed restaurant, but
since the ad agency had a lot of clients in
the food industry, they decided to save the fork and
install it outside of their office building.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I'm glad the fork found a new home, but I
am curious. Where's the first tallest fork in the world.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
You knew I was wanting you to ask that, So
it actually used to be the one in Missouri, but
as of twenty twenty two, the title now belongs to Fairview, Oregon,
which installed a thirty seven foot tall fork outside the
city's new food plaza. But don't feel too badly for
the Springfield fork because it still holds the record as
the world's heaviest fork, and it also makes a cameo
(31:34):
in Chapel Roon's video Hot to Go.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That's a pretty good silver lining. And also, I love
that you brought Fairview into this, says, you know, one
of the few place names in the country that's more
common than Springfield.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That's right, Fairview is the most common toponym, which is
a fancy word for a place name.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Well, I love the fact that two of the most
common toponyms are home to two of the largest utensils
in the world, so that I think you deserved this
week's trophy.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Ah, thanks so much, and special thanks to the people
of the world Springfields for inspiring today's episode. That's it
for today's Part Time Genius. We'll be back with a
brand new show next week from Mary, Gabe, Dylan, Mango
and me. Thanks so much for listening, and hey, don't
forget if you have questions, tips, comments, you can always
reach our moms at ptgenius Moms at gmail dot com.
(32:26):
They always love hearing from you. And you know what,
after doing today's episode and thinking about all these Springfields,
Mango and Gabe and I are sort of inspired to
maybe take a tour of the world and if there
are places weird, places you've always wanted to go or
learn more about Be sure to hit us up about
that as well. We would love your tips on places
we should go and focus on in the episode. Petgenius
(32:48):
Moms at gmail dot com. We'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.
This show is hosted by Will Pearson and me mongas
Hetikler and research by our goodpal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's
episode was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan
with support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced
for iHeart by Katrina Norvell and Ali Perry, with social
(33:27):
media support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and Vine Shorey.
For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. Guess what Will?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What's that Mango?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So the other day I was reading this interview with
Matt Greenig, the creator of The Simpsons, and this was
in Smithsonian. And you know how they never revealed where
the town of Springfield is.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, it's like this running gag throughout.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The show exactly. So the town's geography sort of shifts
as needed to suit the plot. So if you look
across the whole series, which is I can't believe it,
thirty six seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
At this point, God, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Springfield not only has deserts, but glaciers, beaches, swamps, and
according to one episode, the state somehow borders Ohio, Nevada, Maine,
and Kentucky, which is of course geographically impossible.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, I do love the
idea of being a writer on such a huge and
fun show that you just get to mess with the
fans and the viewers all the time. It's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I know, it's amazing. But Granigg actually had a reason
for naming the simpsons hometown Springfield. Apparently, as a kid,
he was a huge fan of Father Knows Best, which
is that nineteen fifties sitcom, and because the show was
set in a fictional place called Springfield, Granegg actually assumed
it took place in his hometown of Springfield, Oregon. But
(01:25):
it wasn't until years later that he found out there
were lots of other Springfields out there, and the one
in Father Knows Best wasn't meant to represent any specific
one of them.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, I see, so Springfield and the Simpsons is inspired
by Grannig's hometown, but it's it's really meant to be
this kind of generic or any town USA.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And Greenig said he wanted viewers in all different Springfields
to have the same experience he did as a kid,
to just assume that the Springfield and their favorite show
was meant to be their Springfield, wherever that might be.
So even after all these years, he's still committed to
the He told Smithsonian, quote, I don't want to ruin
it for people. Whenever people say it's Springfield, Ohio, or Springfield,
(02:06):
Massachusetts or Springfield wherever, I always go, Yep, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
You know, I'd never thought about that way, But it's
actually kind of sweet.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, and it got me wondering, why are there so
many places called Springfield, which town started the trend? And
what if anything, do they have in common? So to
find that out, I thought we could do a WorldWind
tour and visit a whole bunch of Springfield today to
see what we can learn about them. Why don't we
dive in?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome the part time genius. I'm
Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good
friend mangesh hot ticketter And on the other side of
that soundproof glass tucking into what he claims is the
signature dish of spring Filled Illinois. That's our good friend
and producer Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
What is he eating? It looks like, I don't know,
like a pretty decadent open faced sandwich over there.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I did not recognize it. I was asking him
about it earlier and he says, it's something called a
horseshoe sandwich. It was invented at the Leland Hotel. This
was back in the nineteen twenties, so it's around one
hundred years old now, and the name comes from the
fact that it was originally made with slices of ham
that were cut into the shape of a horseshoe. Now,
(03:36):
the thick bread was also served on this sizzling hot platter,
which was meant to represent an anvil, and the French
fries piled on top are supposed to symbolize the nails
and the horseshoe. So there's a whole lot of symbolism
in this dish. But it looks a little weird, but
he seems to be enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And what about that thick layer of cheese sauce that's
on top. What's that supposed to represent?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I think that part is more about the flavor than
the symbolism, and I will confess it looks pretty delicious.
But kudos to Dylan for going the extra mile, as
he always does. And so we ordered this from door Dash,
all the way from a Springfield so many states over.
That's the kind of dedication Dylan is always showing us.
Speaking of which, why did we decide to do an
(04:19):
episode on Springfield's Mango.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well, as I'm sure our listeners know, Springfield has been
in the news a lot lately. It's been tied to
so many weird statements about the place that are incorrect,
But we thought it'd be fun to uncover some weird
facts about Springfield that make the people of various Springfield's proud.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
That's a good reason to do this. Well, to kick
this off, why don't we talk about what a common
name Springfield really is. So, according to the US Board
of Geographic Names, there is at least one town or
city called Springfield in thirty four of the fifty states,
and there are more than forty Springfields in total.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I guess that makes sense. It's like a name here.
But does that make it one of the most common
place names in America?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, you would think so, but actually not. Like if
you include all the populated areas such as neighborhoods unincorporated communities,
we actually have more fair views than anything else. I
wouldn't have guessed that, But if you think about it,
you could probably think of a few of them, nearly
three hundred of them in total. But if you restrict
the search to cities and towns, then Washington is the
(05:25):
number one place. So according to the World Atlas, there
are eighty eight washington spread throughout the country, more than
double the number of Springfields, and most of them are
of course named after Denzel, which totally makes sense. I
love how sometimes we're spreading lives ourselves. But what's surprising, though,
is where the name Springfield comes from. So most of
(05:48):
the nation's springfields actually took their names from Springfield, Massachusetts.
This was a city found that in sixteen thirty six
as the first springfield in the New World, and because
it developed into such an import manufacturing center, the settlers
who passed through and were impressed by the development, they
decided to borrow this name for their own new communities.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So I guess it kind of ends up being this
aspirational good luck charm, like hoping their own towns would
get to be that successful.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, you might assume a
place named Springfield is because of its topographical features, but
in reality it might just be this lingering tribute to
the heyday of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
That's really funny. You know. I have a good friend
named Howard schu and his parents named him that because
they thought it sounded like Howard Hughes and they thought
he might become wealthy by association.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But that's super weird.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
The springfield in Massachusetts, Like, does that one have any springs?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, well, you'll be pleased to hear that because Springfield,
Massachusetts sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River,
he does indeed have some natural springs and some of
the most fertile fields in all of New England. So
no faulse advertising. But weirdly, that's not actually why the
city was named Springfield in the first place.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, of course that would make too much sense. So
I'm guessing there's a Springfield somewhere else that this is
named after.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah. It turns out that almost every English speaking country
in the world has at least one populated area called Springfield.
US of course now has the most, but there are
still multiple Springfields in places like the UK, Ireland, Australia,
South Africa, even Jamaica, and a few other countries including
New Zealand, Canada, Barbados. They all have one Springfield apiece.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
I admired the restraint on their part, But which one
of those is the namesake of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
That would be the one that started it all. This
is Springfield, Essex and England. It's a tiny parish and
it predates the settlement in Massachusetts by at least a
few hundred years. That Springfield took its name from the
many natural springs that flow into the nearby river Chelmer.
Now the Springfield and Essex wasn't even included on maps
in this seventeenth century, so it wasn't exactly on the
(08:05):
short list to have an American settlement named after it.
But then in the sixteen thirties, one of Springfield's hometown
sons wound up founding his own town on the outer
edges of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Now his name was William Penchon,
and in sixteen thirty six he purchased the land on
both sides of the Connecticut River. And this was from
a local native tribe that he made the purchase from.
(08:28):
And at first he kept the Native American name for
the village, which was Agawam, but then in sixteen forty
he decided to change it to Springfield as a way
to honor his birthplace.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Huh. And I'm guessing it developed pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, So by the eighteen hundred, Springfield, Massachusetts had grown
into this great industrial city. An historian named Robert Lee
Ramsey writes, quote, a brood of little Springfields borrowed its
name in all the neighbor states. Then it spread southward
and across the Mountains to Tennessee and Kentucky. Twenty six
American springfields all issued from the loins of an ancient
(09:05):
village in Essex.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
That is both a bizarre trend and so weird that
he brought the word loins into it.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Like he didn't need to do that straight from the loins.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
It does in fitting that Springfield, mass is the firstborn
because it's actually known as the city of first I
didn't realize this until I looked it up. And the
title doesn't come from its name, but from the long
list of innovations that springfielder is produced during the nineteenth
and twentieth century. So actually, let me just run through
a quick list here. Springfield, Massachusetts is known as the
(09:39):
first assembly line in manufacturing, which was pioneered by Thomas Blanchard.
It was used for making gun barrels. It was also
the first in reproducing late for making identical machine parts.
This was Blanchard again. And the first horseless carriage in
America comes from Springfield, which was a steam powered wag,
(10:00):
again also made by Thomas Blanchard.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I feel like maybe you've just put together a list
of things that come from Thomas Blanchart, Like there have
to be some historic first that are tied to other people.
But like, isn't Springfield, Massachusetts actually the birthplace of basketball?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
It's so weird Thomas Blanchard also invented basketball.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
No, I don't think that's true.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Springfield is indeed credited with the creation of basketball. This
was back in the late nineteenth century when the YMCA
was starting to put a greater emphasis on exercise and
physical fitness. So, for instance, the YMCA in Boston installed
the country's first indoor swimming pools. The Y and Holyoak
developed the game of volleyball, and in eighteen ninety one
(10:44):
an instructor in Springfield came up with basketball. His name was,
of course, James Naismith, and he devised the sport as
a way to keep his students active indoors during those
whole New England winters. Now the name of the game
actually refers to peach basket. It's that Nasmith nail to
the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony to serve as goals.
But strangely, he didn't think to cut out the bottoms
(11:07):
of the basket, so for the first several years of
the game, someone had to stand at each end of
the balcony to retrieve the ball from the basket and
put it back into play.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
That is amazing. I do remember much of this because
in seventh grade, one of the first speeches I ever
had to give in front of a class was about
the invention of basketball. So came across some of these
backs in the past. But I do love imagining, like
if the game was still like this today, just two
dudes on ladders at either ends of the court fishing
the ball after every single shot. I love that he
(11:37):
didn't think to maybe put a hole in the bottom
of the basket.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, it's ridiculous. Okay, So we've talked about a fictional springfield,
the world's oldest springfield, and America's first springfield. But I
want to tell you about the one with the most cheese.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Ooh, that teaser feels like the right way to go
to a commercial. So we'll be right back after a
quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're
(12:15):
talking about the weirdest things you never knew about the
many places called springfield. All right, Mango, So you had
this great teaser before the break, and you talked about
the most cheese laden Springfield of them all. So where
we had it? Is it Wisconsin, California, Idaho? Where we're going?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So our next stop is actually Springfield, Missouri, where more
than seven million pounds of cheese are stored year round
in a massive underground warehouse. You may have heard about
this online a few years ago. There was a bunch
of chatter on social media about the Springfield Cheese Caves.
But basically, there's this huge system of man made caverns
(12:54):
hundreds of feet beneath Springfield, and they were originally opened
as a limestone quarry back in nineteen forty sive but
years later, once the mines were spent, the owners decided
to convert the caverns into this giant, enormous, climate controlled
storage center. The warehouse actually spends three point two million
square feet in total, and about fifty different companies red
(13:16):
space there.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Wow, and are all these companies like in the cheese business?
How it feels like a very strangely specific pivot for
a mining company, just like go all in on cheese storage.
Please tell me that's.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
True, So I wish it was. It's not just cheese,
but a sizable portion of the warehouse is dedicated to
dairy products. And that's because the natural temperature of the caves,
about sixty degrees fahrenheit, is ideal for aging certain types
of cheese and for storing dry food products in general.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So what kinds of cheese are we talking about here?
And exactly how much is down there? Like you said,
seven million pounds.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, so that's the number reported by the Springfield Newsleader,
and this is back in twenty twenty two. But it's
worth noting that because of privacy agreements, the warehouse can't
reveal which company is actually leased space there or what
they use it for. But several companies have confirmed their
usage of the cheese caves, including Craft, which uses the
space to age its cheeses, and the Dairy Farmers of America,
(14:14):
who are the true cheese barrens of the Springfield Underground.
For more than thirty years, the DFA has stored cheese
and other dry dairy ingredients in the cave, sometimes as
much as seven million pounds of it for themselves, and
their supply never stays put for long. It's almost like
constantly being sold off to other companies or trucked out
of there, and it's refreshed with new batches it is.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Wild to think there's this whole big dairy operation going
on down there and all these other cold storage caves
all over the country.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, and the people who are living on top of
it kind of never even see it. But luckily, the
Springfield in Missouri has a lot more going for it
than just cheese caves. For instance, it's also home to
the country's last producer of magnetic tape for cassettes, the
National Audio Company, And it's considered the birthplace of Root
sixty six because it was at a nineteen twenty six
(15:04):
meeting in Springfield that that legendary highway got its iconic name.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
That is true, But Mango, you are burying the lead
here because I also read up on Missouri Springfield this week,
and it turns out the town is also famous for
enduring a harrowing cobra siege back in the nineteen fifties.
Did you read about this citywide snake attack. Yeah, it's
pretty much the case. So it all started in the
(15:29):
early fall of nineteen fifty three. There was a homeowner
in Springfield that found a live cobra in his yard
and quickly took it down with his garden hoe, which
I think is the only way you're supposed to kill
a snake. It feels like that's what you hear from everyone.
But then one week later, another cobra was spotted and
killed right across the street. So at that point the
police get involved, and they called in a local science
(15:52):
teacher who was able to identify the species as a
venomous Indian cobra, which obviously isn't native to Masiz So
right off the bat, the police began questioning this guy
named Rio Marr and I may be mispronouncing that name,
but he owned a pet shop about a block away
from where the cobras were spotted. While he admitted to
(16:13):
stocking cobras in his store, he claimed that all the
snakes were accounted for. Now, it seemed unlikely that two
wandering cobras would just slither their way into Springfield and
hang out right outside the local pet shop, but without
any evidence to implicate more, the investigation hit this dead end.
But in the weeks that followed, more and more cobras
(16:34):
began popping up all over town. Can you imagine how
paranoia It's so gross, And of course residents went into
this full blown panic and people were jumping at the
side of every stray stick they came across, and the
town had to get doses of anti venom to help
keep the peace.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
This whole thing feels like such a nightmare, and cobras
are terrifying. Was anyone actually injured by the snakes.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Miraculously, No, but like nine of the eleven cobras that
appeared in Springfield, that eleven as lucky eleven eleven cobras,
so most of them were dispatched with garden hose, just
like the first one. But two of the snakes were
repeatedly run over with cars and yes, again repeatedly run
(17:23):
over with cars, which I sort of get it when
you're that scared of it, but another was crushed by
a rock. I love that I have the list of
how all of them I just posed stuff, And one
especially hardy cobra was actually tear gassed, shot five times
and then hit with the garden hoe, which I know
is actually sort of making me sad to read about that,
but it's also just so ridiculous. I think that might
(17:45):
have been a little bit of an overreaction.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Is so sad, but I mean, also it almost feels
like the garden hoe industry was behind it.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Good point.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, so this feels like a problem that a local
pet store was like stalking pet cobras to begin with.
But did they ever find out where all these cobras
came from?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So they did, but get this, it wasn't until thirty
five years later. So during that time, locals continued to
suspect that Moore was responsible for the cobra scare, but
he maintained his innocence all the way to his death
in the nineteen seventies. Then in nineteen eighty eight, once
the statute of limitations had long expired, the real culprit
(18:31):
came forward. It was this local man named Carl Barnett,
and he had been fourteen years old in the fall
of nineteen fifty three, and he had orchestrated the cobra
scare as revenge against the pet store owner. How crazy
is this like.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
A plot twist?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
It really is. According to Carl's confession, he had procured
an exotic fish from more as part of a trade.
But then when the fish died a few hours later,
the pet shop owner told him, you know, tough luck,
A deal is a deal, And on his way out
of the store, Carl spotted a crate of snakes out back,
and as a way to get even with the clerk
(19:06):
who had wronged them, he set them all free. I mean,
talk about revenge.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
That is so insane and it almost sounds like the
beginning of like a super villain origin story.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
It's so yeah, I expect somebody like it bit and
then they turn into the Phobra or something. But I
do want to mention that, according to Carl, he did
not know the snakes were venomous when he turned them loose.
But anyway, I know we've got lots more to say
about Springfield's but let's take another quick break.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Okay, Well, so we've talked about Springfield, mass the city
of first and Springfield, Missouri, the city of cheese and cobras,
one of the lesser known cheese pairings out there. But
let's talk about the Springfield that's in the news right now, Springfield, Ohio,
which actually has three famous monikers over the years, the
Home City, the Champion City, and the City of Roses.
(20:12):
I know we split this one up, but where do
you want to start?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
All right? Well, why don't we start with the home city?
Because while two of the names have to do with
the rich agricultural history of Springfield. The Home City is
kind of the outlier here, so it actually refers to
the period in the early twentieth century when fraternal organizations
were highly active in this area. So you had groups
like the Masonic Lodge and the Oddfellows and the Knights
(20:37):
of Pathias, and they were looking for ways to give
back to the community and show that they were more
than just these social clubs. So to do this, each
lodge built a series of homes in Springfield to shelter
local orphans as well as aging members of their respective orders.
So although Springfield is now facing a major housing shortage
along with many other parts of the country, there was
(20:59):
a time when housing the needy was a top priority
for the town, so much so that it earned the
nickname Home City.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
That's really kind of sweet. So maybe the real way
to solve the housing crisis is for everyone to join
a fraternal order. Again, think you assume that's what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm getting at. So I'm now
going to list out all of your options for fraternal organizations.
Will post it at the end of this episode. But
that's a pretty funny idea.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So getting back to nicknames, Springfield's first and longest lasting
nickname was the Champion City, and it wasn't because of
a famous sports team or a pivotal battle, but because
of the Champion Reaper Company. Now in the mid eighteen hundreds,
a local entrepreneur named William Whitelee invented a combination reaper
and mower, which quickly revolutionized the agricultural industry and led
(21:49):
to an economic boom in Springfield. The Champion Company's manufacturing
success put the town on the map for the next
fifty years or so, and after merging with several other
companies to become in an out national harvester in nineteen
oh two, they remained at the forefront of that agricultural
machinery business while also branching out into truck production. All
these years later, the company, now known as International Motors,
(22:12):
still has a truck plant in Springfield, and it remains
one of the town's largest employers.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You Know, it is nice to hear that that industrial
legacy is still alive and kicking, you know. Unfortunately, this
same can't be said for Springfield's once thriving floral industry.
And this was news to me, but apparently the town
was once one of the nation's top rose growers for
almost a century, and the catalyst for all of that
growth was an innovative shipping process that allowed these young
(22:41):
and dormant rose bushes to be shipped safely by rail
all across the country. And once the process was introduced
in the late eighteen seventies, a multimillion dollar mail order
business sprang up almost overnight, and so for about seventy
years or so, Springfield grew and shipped more roses than
any other city in the US. According to this nineteen
(23:03):
nineteen publication from the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the city's
thirty three greenhouses produced approximately nine million, six hundred and
thirty seven thousand roses every single year. Wow, And if
you counted all the greenhouses in the greater Clark County area,
the total was substantially higher.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That's fascinating. But you said that's no longer the case today, right.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, that's right. So by the nineteen thirties, the Springfield
rose industry was facing some, you know, stiff competition from
other growers who had honed in on their market, and
to make matters worse, the advent of the airplane meant
that shipping roses by rail was no longer really the
fastest or even the safest method, and so as a result,
Springfield's floral industry withered by the end of the decade,
(23:47):
and really by the early nineteen fifties, most of the
town's commercial greenhouses had closed down for good.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Sadly, yeah, that is said, but how about we close
this on a more hopeful note, because the death of
the industry wasn't the end of Springfield's agricultural legacy. And
that's because the town. I did not know this before
this research. The town is actually the birthplace for four
H clubs.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
No kidding. So how did that come about?
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So it started as the brainchild of this person named
Albert Belmont Graham. He served as superintendent of schools in Springfield,
and this was at the turn of the twentieth century.
He was a huge proponent of agriculture as a means
of developing youth, both kind of as a way to
make more responsible individuals, but also to turn them into
more productive members of the community. So in nineteen oh
(24:36):
two he held a meeting with about thirty boys and
girls in the county courthouse basement, and together they started
investigating all the ins and outs of agriculture, from how
to plant a garden to how to identify local wildlife
like weeds and insects. And for the first couple of years,
the group called itself the Boys and Girls Agricultural Club,
and the Springfield Club was the one and only chapter.
(24:58):
But once Ohio State University caught wind of this program,
the college used its influence to help establish new branches
throughout the entire state, and by nineteen oh five, there
were more than two thousand kids within sixteen counties taking
part of the program. It proved so popular that in
nineteen sixteen, the state established the Department of Boys and
(25:19):
Girls Club Work, marking the official start of the Ohio
four Age Program.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Wow, you know, I actually saw a four age sign
not too long ago, and I was trying to remember
what do those four ages stand for?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, I was curious about that too, and it spelled
out in the group's official pledge. It goes, I pledged
my head to clear thinking, my heart to a greater loyalty,
my hands to larger service, my health to better living
for my club, my community, my country, and my world.
And although the four Age program has since spread to
(25:53):
all fifty states and even abroad to more than eighty countries.
Its heritage belongs squarely to Ohio and Ringfield in particular,
and since there are no cultural or economic or social
restrictions on four age membership, many young Springfielders today still
take the pledge and work side by side with one another,
native born and foreign transplants alike.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
That was a good way to wrap this one up.
Thanks for ending on a high note. But before we
go for the day, I feel like we should run
through a few more Springfields in today's fact off.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okay, here's something I never knew before this week. So,
the state of Illinois actually went through two different capitals
before finally landing on Springfield. The first town, Kaskilaskia, only
held the title for a year or so after Illinois
entered the Union. This was in eighteen eighteen, but the
second one, Van Dalia, would still likely be the seat
(26:55):
of power today if not for a little known guy
named Abraham Lincoln. He and his fellow state legislators felt
the capital should be closer to the geographical center of
the state. So in eighteen thirty seven, Lincoln introduced a
measure that would move the capital to Springfield, which conveniently
was also where he lived and practiced law. And the
(27:15):
legislation was backed by eight of Lincoln's colleagues and the
Whig Party, And because each one of them stood at
least six feet tall, the press started referring to them
as the Long nine. And thanks to their prodigious height
and a few political favors, those lanky statesmen were able
to push through a bill and relocate the Illinois capital
for a second time, and by the end of eighteen
(27:38):
thirty nine, the state government had officially set up shop
in Springfield and it has remained there ever since.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
That is so weird. I've never heard of Vandalia or
another town you mentioned in Illinois. It's funny how state
capitals end up being like the lesser known cities sometimes.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Also the idea of these this what was it, nine
people being over six feet tall at that point, it
just feels like there weren't that many people that would
have been six feet tall then, I.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Know, before basketball, so right exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, back to Naysmith, he invented that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So here's a funny one I found out about the
naming of Springfield, Missouri way back in eighteen thirty three,
and this comes from a book called Our Storehouse of
Missouri place Names, and it says, quote, everybody in Green
County was invited to come in and vote their choice
of a name for the county seat. James Wilson had
a jug of white whiskey, and as fast as the
(28:34):
people came in, he took them over to his tent
and said, I was born and raised in a beautiful
little town in Massachusetts named Springfield, and it would please
me very much if you would go over and vote
to name this town Springfield. Then he produced his jug,
and needless to say, Wilson had his way.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I mean, I can't say that that his method seems
like the best, but it does help explain why a
bunch of Southerners would adopt the name from New England.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, I mean, whiskey can be pretty persuasive.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
All right, Well, switching gears a little. My next fact
isn't about a place called Springfield. It's about a band
called Springfield Buffalo Springfield. Of course. Now, most people assume
the band's name was a nod to American cities, but
according to the liner notes of their box set, the
inspiration was actually a steamroller made by Buffalo's Springfield Roller Company,
(29:23):
and the band saw one of the rollers parked outside
the window of where they were staying, and they thought
it had a nice ring to it. And so, to
bring this full circle, the company that made the steamroller
was actually the result of a merger between two separate businesses,
one based in Buffalo, New York and the other in Springfield, Ohio. So,
in a roundabout way, the band is named for a
(29:45):
Springfield after all.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That's pretty interesting. Well, speaking of going full circle, back
in two thousand and seven, twentieth Century Fox was publicizing
the Simpsons movie, and part of the way they did
this was by donating an eleven half foot fiberglass donut
to the city of Springfield, New Zealand. This colossal breakfast
street was proudly displayed in a public park for the
(30:09):
next two years, but in two thousand and nine, a
fun hating arsonist torched the donut, Rainbow sprinkles and all.
There was a brief, sad interim where the town used
a big pink truck tire as a temporary replacement, but
thankfully the Fox movie Studio came through with a new,
much sturdier concrete donut and it still stands in the
(30:31):
town today.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Wow, that's pretty good. But I will see your giant
donut and I will raise you a giant fork. So
the second tallest fork in the world. The second tallest
fork in the world. He's thirty five feet tall, weighs
eleven tons, and proudly stands times down outside of an
agency headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. It was originally built in
(30:54):
the late nineties to promote a now closed restaurant, but
since the ad agency had a lot of clients in
the food industry, they decided to save the fork and
install it outside of their office building.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I'm glad the fork found a new home, but I
am curious. Where's the first tallest fork in the world.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
You knew I was wanting you to ask that, So
it actually used to be the one in Missouri, but
as of twenty twenty two, the title now belongs to Fairview, Oregon,
which installed a thirty seven foot tall fork outside the
city's new food plaza. But don't feel too badly for
the Springfield fork because it still holds the record as
the world's heaviest fork, and it also makes a cameo
(31:34):
in Chapel Roon's video Hot to Go.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That's a pretty good silver lining. And also, I love
that you brought Fairview into this, says, you know, one
of the few place names in the country that's more
common than Springfield.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That's right, Fairview is the most common toponym, which is
a fancy word for a place name.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Well, I love the fact that two of the most
common toponyms are home to two of the largest utensils
in the world, so that I think you deserved this
week's trophy.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Ah, thanks so much, and special thanks to the people
of the world Springfields for inspiring today's episode. That's it
for today's Part Time Genius. We'll be back with a
brand new show next week from Mary, Gabe, Dylan, Mango
and me. Thanks so much for listening, and hey, don't
forget if you have questions, tips, comments, you can always
reach our moms at ptgenius Moms at gmail dot com.
(32:26):
They always love hearing from you. And you know what,
after doing today's episode and thinking about all these Springfields,
Mango and Gabe and I are sort of inspired to
maybe take a tour of the world and if there
are places weird, places you've always wanted to go or
learn more about Be sure to hit us up about
that as well. We would love your tips on places
we should go and focus on in the episode. Petgenius
(32:48):
Moms at gmail dot com. We'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.
This show is hosted by Will Pearson and me mongas
Hetikler and research by our goodpal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's
episode was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan
with support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced
for iHeart by Katrina Norvell and Ali Perry, with social
(33:27):
media support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and Vine Shorey.
For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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