Springfield

Springfield is the capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County. The city’s population was 114394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state’s seventh most-populous city, the second largest outside of the Chicago metropolitan area (after Rockford), and the largest in central Illinois. Approximately 208000 residents live in the Springfield metropolitan area.

Springfield was settled by European-Americans in the late 1810s, around the time Illinois became a state. The most famous historic resident was Abraham Lincoln, who lived in Springfield from 1837 until 1861, when he went to the White House as President of the United States. Major tourist attractions include multiple sites connected with Lincoln including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Lincoln Home, Old State Capitol, Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, and the Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery. Largely on the efforts of Lincoln and other area lawmakers, as well as its central location, Springfield was made the state capital in 1839.