First National Business Corporation

About the Springfield, MO Area

Springfield, Missouri: It all adds up to an uncommonly good city.

Springfield may be one of the country's most common city names, but Springfield, Missouri, is anything but common. The state's third-largest city is a great place to work, go to school, raise a family, or retire.

Everything you need is here--a healthy job market, great schools, top-notch entertainment, superior health care facilities, an active arts community, beautiful neighborhoods, bountiful opportunities for outdoor recreation, and a temperate climate that nurtures the best of the four seasons.

Springfield is located on the Ozark Mountain Plateau at an elevation of 1,278 feet above sea level and enjoys a four-season climate with milder seasons than in the upland plains or prairie regions of the state. This climate is characterized by an abundance of sunshine, low wind velocity, and mild temperatures. Tucked in the southwest corner of Missouri, Springfield is easy to get to, whether you’re traveling by car, airplane, or bus.

Nearly half of America's population lives within 500 miles of Springfield. This prime location makes the city a regional trucking center, with 42 truck lines plus terminals. Likewise, as home to the Springfield/Branson Regional Airport, the destination airport to Branson and Ozark Mountain Country, Springfield welcomes tourists and convention delegates year-round.

Around town, the efficient network of roadways provides easy travel by car to any citywide destination in 15 to 25 minutes. The Bus, operated by City Utilities, provides public transportation on 13 routes, offering a convenient way to get to work, school, or shopping. Springfield-area taxi, limousine, shuttle, and special-needs providers round out the local transportation resources. Highways, city streets, and major intersections are constantly being upgraded to allow for smoother traffic flow, ensuring that Springfield continues to be a city on the move.

Education is a top priority here, whether you're interested in early childhood programs, public schools, private schools, technical colleges, liberal arts universities, or career skills enhancement.

The Springfield R-12 School District strives to provide the best possible resources, facilities and opportunities for all students. A variety of private schools and higher education institutions offers excellent alternatives and innovative approaches to increasing knowledge. Nearly 25,000 students attend classes in the Springfield R-XII School District. The district is accredited under the Missouri School Improvement Program by action of the State Board of Education.

The past several years Expansion Management Magazine has rated Springfield at a "Blue Ribbon Educational System" in its Education Quotient study. The area's 16 colleges and universities enhance the academic atmosphere, making postsecondary and continuing education resources readily accessible to area high school graduates, business professionals, and retirees.

Preparing today’s students for the competitive, evolving global marketplace of the 21st century is the primary focus of Springfield’s educational system. From preschool to graduate school, learning is a high priority in this family-oriented city. Students here are not lost in crowded classrooms, but are nurtured as individuals, capable of achieving every dream.

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce actively works with the Springfield Public Schools district to involve the business community in the lives of its students, who are tomorrow’s workforce. The job market is robust, with health care, manufacturing, education, retail, and small business contributing to Springfield’s healthy economy.

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Remarkably, even with all its growth, Springfield is honored today as a designated Tree City USA. Peaceful, green neighborhoods are part of planned community growth, with an emphasis on maintaining and restoring natural beauty. Strong neighborhood and home owner associations bring neighbors together to meet each other and cooperate in making their communities better places to live.

Whether you’re looking for a new apartment, a renovated downtown or studio loft apartment, a low-maintenance condominium, a moderately priced starter home, or a new, executive-style residence. Whatever the choice, a low property tax rate keeps your housing costs low.

It’s typical to know your neighbors and live only minutes from school, work, and shopping—without concern about heavy traffic congestion or polluted air. For people who prefer to live in a more rural setting, growing communities such as Ash Grove, Fair Grove, Nixa, Ozark, Republic, Rogersville, Strafford, and Willard provide many additional housing options within 20 minutes of Springfield.

Springfield provides comprehensive medical services to patients from across the Ozarks and surrounding states. First-rate, state-of-the-art facilities make Springfield's health care services among the best in the nation. In fact, Cox Health Systems and St. John’s Health System were both on Modern Healthcare magazine’s Top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks list in January 2000.

Health care providers and related businesses are among the area’s top employers, and specialized medical training is available in Springfield as well. Several area hospitals serve as teaching institutions and have earned national recognition for their programs.

Springfield offers more than 40 shopping centers from which to choose, making shopping here bountiful. From regional malls to quaint antique stores, shoppers flock to Springfield, the third-largest retail market in Missouri. Battlefield Mall and North Town Mall are the largest enclosed shopping malls in town.

The “granddaddy of outdoor stores,” Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World is a great place to shop, eat, and learn from the dioramas at the Fish and Wildlife Museum. The American National Fish and Wildlife Museum, known as Wonders of Wildlife, demonstrates the Ozarks’ passion for conserving the great outdoors.

Located adjacent to Bass Pro, this beautiful new museum feature’s natural Ozarks habitats such as creeks and bluffs, live birds and animals, and many educational displays focusing on the history and conservation of America’s fish and wildlife resources. A 222,000-gallon ocean gallery contains sharks, barracuda, rays, and other saltwater dwellers.

On the cultural scene, Springfield has long served as the cultural center of the Ozarks it is a treasure trove with a talented arts community dating back to the early 1900s. Included are a symphony, a community theater, an art museum, a ballet company, and a regional opera company.

In addition, Springfield boasts an array of family-oriented museums, attractions, and events, and it is less than an hour’s drive away from Branson--America's live music show capital and home to Silver Dollar City and Table Rock Lake. What’s more, nestled in the heart of the Ozarks, Springfield offers a wealth of outdoor experiences, especially for those who enjoy golfing, hiking, boating, or fishing.

Whether you are looking for a fun family event, a romantic night on the town, or treasured tourist hot spots, there are many types of entertainment and activities to choose from. In the good old summertime, Springfield offers tons of family fun, including the annual Firefall celebration, a daylong event topped off by a huge fireworks display perfectly choreographed to live music by the Springfield Symphony.

Springfield’s history comes alive at our museums, where you can learn about the Frisco Railroad and the Civil War, or take the kids to the Discovery Center downtown and have a fun, hands-on learning experience you’ll never forget.

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If you like to play sports or just want to enjoy an afternoon at a peaceful park, Springfield has what you're looking for. Springfield is home to nearly 50 beautiful public parks, seven community centers, numerous playgrounds, seven public swimming pools, many indoor tennis facilities, and four municipal golf courses.

If you like spectator sports, be among 8,000 screaming fans at a Bears or Lady Bears basketball game at Hammons Student Center on the SMSU campus.

Recreation is an important part of the lives of Springfield residents. Nearby freshwater lakes offer more than 158,000 acres of open water for boating, fishing, and water sports.

As if all of these amenities weren't enough, Springfield's average cost of living is refreshingly low, about 8 to 10 percent below the national average. The cost of living in Missouri during the first three months of this year was the nation's seventh lowest, four spots better than during 2001's last quarter, according to a survey released by Missouri's Department of Economic Development.

All of the indicators were cheaper in Missouri than most other states, including grocery items, housing, utilities, transportation, health care and other miscellaneous goods and services. Competitive utility and housing costs and property taxes offer a quality of life that is better and much less expensive than those in most parts of the country.

Tourism Tally

How many visitors come here?
How much do they spend?
Tourism Helps move Springfield's economy along, and in Branson, it's the major money motor.
For this special visitors-guide edition of 417,we have compiled some interesting factoids.-G.H.

BRANSON

Minimum number of Branson visitors each year: 7 million

Minimum number of dollars they spend here each year: $1.7 billion

Average dollars per tourist spent in Branson each year: $242.86

Average income per Branson Tourist: $51,000

Percentage of Branson Tourists who travel there in their own vehicles: 82

Percentage of Branson tourists who travel on motorcoaches:5.9

Percentage of Branson tourists who come from more than 300 miles away:389

Average age of Branson tourists: 53.7 years

Number of Hotel rooms: 22,500

Number of theatres: 49

Minimum number of shows: 80

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SPRINGFIELD

Minimum number of Springfield visitors each year: 2.2 million

Amount of money they spend here every year: $526.2 million

Amount of money per person per day they spend: $91

Amount of lodging tax the City of Springfield collected in 2002: $1,054,809

Minimum number of Springfield jobs directly related to tourism: 5,200

Percentage of Springfield tourists who come her4e for leisure: 51.7

Percentage who come here for business: 27.1

Average adult age of Springfield tourists: 44.1

Percentage aged 75 or older: 1.1

Average household income of Springfield tourists: $65,879

Percentage of Springfield tourists who went shopping: 65.6

Percentage who visit Bass Pro: 67.8