Springfield Local Customs

There are nearly 200 churches in Springfield, and you are as apt to run into a house of worship as you are to run into a fast-food franchise or a cheap motel. Institutes of higher learning tied to a religious base are equally common.

Of Springfield's five universities and colleges (as we said in the introduction), most are affiliated with a religious association. Pictured here is one of the five, Evangel University, which up until a few years ago conducted their high-priced lectures within army barracks from WWII. Of late there has been a rash of construction, mingling the modern brick-built halls of higher education with the wooden trunks that sheltered decades of graduating classes.

In Springfield, like anywhere else in the United States, there are lanes where the original brick buildings still stand adjacent to one another, and seamless in a long street-front. Springfield has two such historic districts, Walnut Street and Commercial Street, the preservation of both being at present a high priority in city councils.

You should know that in Springfield you will encounter men (and women and children) with mullets, and lots of stock car racing fans. One fun thing to do in Springfield is look for Dale Earnhart tributes on the back of vehicles. I saw one last week outside my apartment that was a 3 with a halo & wings. If I see it again, I'll try to get a picture of it to share with you, cuz it was classic.

As proof of the theological influence in this town, the local silo (at National and Chestnut) has been painted by students from Evangel University depicting the birth at Bethlehem.