Springfield

Springfield, USA - home of the Simpsons and a whole bunch of interesting and eccentric people. Let's take a look around...

Introduction

Springfield is a small, port city, which has been very flexible throughout the show's twenty-plus seasons. The city was founded by Jebediah Springfield, and it allegedly has a population of around 30,720. There is a strong rivalry with it's neighbouring city, Shelbyville, which goes as far down the line as the cities' foundings.

As previously mentioned, the city is very flexible; it's main geographical features include Springfield Gorge, forests, a mountain range, beaches, waterholes, a desert, a glacier, and also, 'West Springfield' has been referred to, which is three times the size of Texas - so Springfield looks like it's a very big city! It is located on the coast of a large body of water, and it's wildlife includes grizzly bears (one even wandered through the city), manatees, wolves and much much more. The weather is also very variable; we've had huge snowstorms, natural disasters, heat waves and more, but mostly, the skies are blue and the sun is shining.

In the city itself, there's Evergreen Terrace, the suburban road on the east side of Springfield, and the Main Street, which is in a state of disrepair with potholes galore. And, if you're wanting to get around, there's irregular bus services, subway systems and an international airport, along with a short-lived monorail. Springfield is portrayed by the rest of America as an awful place - it has made the cover of Time Magazine, as "America's Worst City", and it has also been referred to as "America's Crud Bucket". It also holds the world record for the fattest town.

The main media outlets in Springfield are The Springfield Shopper newspaper, KBBL radio, and Channel 6 - featuring Kent Brockman with the news and Arnie Pie 'in the sky'. Krusty the Clown's show is also broadcast on Channel 6, and Bumblebee Man is shown on Channel Ocho, keeping the Latino audience laughing with his slapstick comedy. Springfield is also home to the Isotopes, a minor league baseball team, and the Atoms, a football team.

The city is run by its corrupt mayor, Mayor Quimby, and the incompetent chief of police is Clancy Wiggum. Superintendant Chalmers runs the school district, such as Springfield Elementary, which is run by Principal Seymour Skinner.

History

Springfield was founded by mustached bear-killer Jebediah Springfield, right, in 1796, after he had left Maryland with a large group after misinterpreting a passage in the Bible. One of the members of the group, Shelbyville Manhattan, broke away just before Springfield was founded, after Jebediah refused to allow men to marry their own cousins. Surprisingly, half of the group followed him, and a great rivalry between Shelbyville and Springfield ensued.

The town reached dizzy heights in the 1950s when the world's first Aquacar (cars that drive on water!) factory, and it had a booming galosh (waterproof overshoe) trade. The streets were literally paved with gold, so when the economy collapsed, it was a disaster. It was discovered that Aquacars were likely to spontaneously combust after 600 miles, and this threw Springfield into the economic middleground. However, some manufacturing still remains, including Duff beer, 'Ah! Fudge' chocolate, a box factory, a peanut factory, a pillow factory, a steel mill, Itchy and Scratchy Cartoons and, of course, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

More recently, Springfield was split in two after a dispute over area codes, has been briefly renamed Libertyville, and was trapped inside a glass dome to stop pollution from Lake Springfield spreading.

Places

Strap yourselves in...this is where the tour begins. There's nothing quite like a walk around a fictional town, so this might be a new experience for you...

Kwik-E-Mart

Run by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the Kwik-E-Mart is Springfield's local 24-hour convenience store. The store is well-known for selling ridiculously over-priced goods, aswell as Squishees. Apu works notoriously long shifts - one time, he worked for over ninety-six hours non-stop. Some classic moments in the Kwik-E-Mart include Frostillicus - a frozen version of Jasper - and Paul and Linda McCartney's secret utopian garden on the roof of the store. The store is often the target of crime, too - this is where Sideshow Bob infamously framed Krusty the Clown, and Snake also regularly steals the till contents while holding Apu at gunpoint. The school bullies, Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney, are also regulars, buying cigarettes with fake IDs.

Springfield Elementary School

Seymour Skinner is the principal of Springfield Elementary, the main elementary school in the town. It is a publically-funded school, which notoriously suffers from underfunding - and regularly cutting subjects and corners to make ends meet. The town was allegedly once named "The Most Delapidated School in Missouri", so it was moved brick-by-brick to Springfield. Superitendent Chalmers is, oddly enough, the school's superintendent; and there are also various teachers that play main roles in the show. Edna Krabappel teaches Bart's 4th grade class, Ms Hoover teaches Lisa's 2nd grade class, Mr Largo is the music teacher, and Groundskeeper Willie is the school's groundskeeper. Yes, really. Otto Mann drives the school bus, and Lunchlady Doris is the lunchlady! However, on occassion, she has been seen as a nurse to cut costs.

Springfield Nuclear Power Plant

Springfield Nuclear Power Plant has a monopoly on the town's energy supply, and is run by local millionaire Charles Montgomery "Monty" Burns. Burns is assisted by Waylon Smithers, and many of the town's bums work at the plant; Homer is the safety inspector in sector 7G, despite his laziness and ineptitude. The plant is located at 100 Industrial Way, and the carelessness of the employees and the sub-standard facilites often place the environment and the people of Springfield in danger - remember Blinky, the 3-eyed fish? - and for this reason, the plant has a horrendous safety record. In the future, it has been suggested that the plant increases the number of cooling towers or reactors, in the flash-forward episodes.

Moe's Tavern

Moe Szyslak owns Moe's Tavern, the bar that is on the corner of Walnut Street. The bar itself is dark, and unappealing. Very few women ever visit the bar; the main barflies include Homer, Lenny, Carl and Barney, aswell as Sam and Larry. There are a few pool tables inside, a dartboard, a love tester and a jukebox - although the interiors often change. Moe often decides to reinvent the bar temporarily - he renamed it "Flaming Moe's" to cash in on the success of his new drink; Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag; "M", the new trendy bar; a traditional English pub, The Nag and Weasel; and Mo's the gay bar. Moe's is often subjected to prank phone calls made by Bart from his house, such as I.P.Freely and Amanda Huggankiss. These infuriate Moe, but he has no idea who the culprit is.

Krusty Burger

Krusty Burger is a fast food chain in Springfield and across America, endorsed and named after Krusty the Klown. Krusty Burger is very much like Springfield's McDonalds, as there is no outlet in the town. Krusty has input into the company; he once lost $44million when a promotional Olympics tie-in backfired. Krusty is not a fan of any of the food served by Krusty Burger, and this is quite public knowledge. Krusty Burger offers items such as the Krusty Burger, the Ribwich, Krusty Burger with Cheese, Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverages (very similar to McDonalds milkshakes) and the one with Ketchup. The chain is also guilty of several food safety breaches, and one of the main workers is Squeaky Voiced Teen.