You do realize, don't you, that we now KNOW where Springfield is?

[DrBB]

So for years the Simpsons show has gone out of their way to avoid telling us what state Springfield is in. Even in the episode whose rerun I just saw,* in which they TOTALLY GIVE IT AWAY! I think.

Yup, it's the one where Springfield gets divided into 2 area codes. And Homer keeps complaining about losing his original area code:

636!

Which is an actual area code in Missouri.

Of course the added area code, 939, is also an actual area code: in Puerto Rico.

But that doesn't matter! The original one is in Missouri! And there IS a Springfield Missouri (which isn't in 636). But that doesn't matter either, because lots of states have a Springfield (the whole point of the name), so MO can have more than one. Can't it?

-------------
*Note that when they view the phone company informovie about the new area code, they avoid saying the state name.

[vivalarev]

1. Missouri....

That was always my guess, but there is a Springfield in damn near every state, but they have made it somewhat obvious that its some where in the midwest

[Worst Username Ever]

2. How do you explain the springfield winters?

I am pretty sure it is modeled after springield, IL. There is also a shelbyville...

[DrBB]

3. Ah, those RARE winters

Sure, they get the occasional freak snowstorm in MO, don't they. Look, this is hard, numerical evidence! You can't argue with that!

Plus the episode has a cameo by the Who.

[tridim]

4. So the 'Murderhorn' is in Missouri?

and I wasn't aware that Missouri bordered an ocean.

Springfield is everywhere and isn't anywhere.

[dwckabal]

5. At the San Diego ComiCon

every year, some asks Matt Groening where Springfield is. Invaribly, every year, he (or one of the panel) elaborate on things like:

1. Borders both Mexico and Canada
2. Has a gorge, mountain, lake, ocean and desert
3. etc., etc.

Obviously, they're never going to say. You can go through the episodes and find many, many references to where it MIGHT be. In fact, in the episode where Homer left Marge to work on an oil rig, Springfield appeared to take up over half of the US!

[DrBB]

6. Yeah, but this is an AREA CODE

So what, you say? A number! I say. Don't you believe in numbers?

[tridim]

7. Well, the Simpsons phone prefix is 555

Where do they use 555 in this country?

This would all be clear to you if you hadn't missed that week of area code camp. :)

[bucknaked]

8. In their "VH1-Behind the..."

...actually can't remember what it was "behind," but at the end, the narrator says "...this small Kentucky family."

[tridim]

9. The actors who play The Simpsons are from Northern Kentucky

The characters they play are from Springfield, Ohi-ya-maude.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

22. One is from near Dayton...

...so Springfield Ohio...likely subject?

[gmoney]

25. Not Ohio, because...

In an episode this season, they say they're going to fly to DAYTON OH (Marge makes a big deal of this, a nod to hometown girl Nancy Cartwright, prolly)... Dayton is about 20 minutes from Springfield OH, so they wouldn't be flying there.

Groening grew up in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon?) so that's may be what he had in mind... proximity to mountains and oceans, temperate climate with some snow in winters...

Of course, it's really EVERYTOWN America... universally convenient to (or conveniently removed from) landmarks and cities as required by plot devices.

Too bad they won't be rerunning the WTC episode. "But Marge, New York is a hellhole... and you know how I feel about hellholes."

[mdmc]

29. is that true that the wtc simpies wont be shown>?

:kick:

[oregonjen]

10. Oregon perhaps?

I thought Matt Groening is from Eugene, OR and Springfield is close to Eugene.

[AntiCoup2K4]

12. Close geographically, but night and day otherwise

Eugene is known for being a bastion of liberalism, while Springfield is Freeper Central.

[HuckleB]

15. Matt's from Portland, Oregon.

Some of the character's names came from streets in town: Terwilliger, Lovejoy, Flanders, Quimby etc... and Krusty the Clown was modeled after an a character from an old, local children's show. Oh, and the nuclear plant is a dead ringer for the troubled Trojan Nuclear Plant near town.

Springfield is an amalgam of imagination, however. That's the beauty of cartoons!

:)

[unblock]

11. a bit more insight about the simpsons' springfield:

http://www.fact-index.com/s/sp/springfield__the_simpsons_.html

Springfield is the fictional city where the TV series the Simpsons is set, founded by Jebediah Springfield, located near Shelbyville.
The city seems a small town rather than a megalopolis or something. For sure, the city has one nuclear power plant, an elementary school whose principal is Seymour Skinner and a bar run by Moe.

The location of Springfield is a long-running joke in the series, based in the fact that nearly every state in America has at least one community with that name. In addition, Matt Groening, the creator of the Simpsons, grew up in Eugene, Oregon. From Groening's childhood perspective, Springfield was "the next town over". Groening also lived in Portland, Oregon and one can see the connection between Portland and characters in the series - Terwilliger Street (Sideshow Bob), Lovejoy Street and Park (Rev. Lovejoy), one of the founders of Portland, and Northeast Flanders St. where the signs say "NE Flanders St." Some people have vandalized them to say "NED Flanders St." (Ned Flanders).

Springfield is near a junction of five states, yet it borders the ocean; it has a canyon, a desert, and mountains. Sometimes it snows in Springfield, and the town once experienced a hurricane. The flag of Springfield's state showed (prior to a redesign contest) a Confederate Naval Jack floating on (or sinking into) a body of water in front of a sunrise reminiscent of the World War II Japanese battle flag. (The flag needed to be redesigned because they live in a "northern state.") The state bird is the potbellied sparrow; the state pasta is bowtie. While the name of the state has never been mentioned (except once, see below), Homer Simpson's driver's licence shows that the state's abbreviation is "NT". According to Producer/Director David Silverman, Springfield is in the state of North Takoma, a fictional US state. The two-letter abbreviation NT could refer to Canada's Northwest Territories, or Australia's Northern Territory, but its clear Springfield is in the U.S. U.S. flags are everywhere in Springfield, note the flag in the opening credits.

The capital of the state that Springfield is in is called, simply, Capital City. A recent episode showed jellyfish washing up on Springfield Beach, indicating that Springfield apparently has an ocean coastline, although that has not appeared previously on any maps.

Episodes frequently make fun of this contradiction by adding further conflicting descriptions, obscuring onscreen map representations, and interrupting conversational references. The revelation that Springfield was once entirely in the telephone area code 636 and that chaos erupted when half the town was switched to the new area code 939 does not clarify the situation; area code 636 is in Missouri, while 939 is in Puerto Rico. In some episodes, like the "Behind the Laughter" episode, it is told that Springfield is in northern Kentucky. There is a Springfield in Kentucky. In one episode, someone refers to "south of the border" and Bart responds "You mean Tennessee?" (Tennessee is directly south of Kentucky.) In another episode, Superintendent Chalmers refers to Springfield school as "the most dilapidated in all of Missouri", and shocks everyone (viewers and characters alike) by this disclosure, before continuing with "and that's why it was shut down and moved here, brick by brick".

The nearest neighbouring town is Shelbyville, there is a strong rivalry between the towns, dating back to a rivalry between their founders -- Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan. Lisa Simpson discovered that Jebediah Springfield was in fact Hans Sprungfeld, a murderous pirate and enemy of George Washington, but decided that the myth should be preserved. The town motto "a noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" is attributed to Jebediah.

[unblock]

13. one point of clarification about kentucky:

in the 'behind the laughter' episode, it's not actually clear that the simpsons is set in kentucky. the hilarious episode showed the behind the scenes story of a bunch of cartoon characters playing the parts of the simpsons cartoon characters we all know and love.

iirc, what was stated was that the cartoon characters that portrayed the simpsons live in springfield, kentucky, i.e., the simpsons was "filmed" in kentucky, not necessarily set in kentucky.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

21. Shelbyville, huh?

Springfield , KY, isnt too far from Shelbyvile, KY...but the one in the show seems larger than smallish southern Springfield...the Simpsons seem pretty midwestern.

[mwdem]

14. Yeah, and Brad Pitt's from Springfield, Mo.!

Coincidence? I think not!!:tinfoilhat:

[DrWeird]

16. It's Michigan.

Any other questions?

[HuckleB]

20. Where's the mountain that's nearby?

How tall is it in meters?

[Race4Peace]

17. does this sptingfield have a nuclear power plant nearby?

[AntiCoup2K4]

26. Groening has said that he modeled the nuke plant after Trojan in Oregon...

...but Trojan isn't actually anywhere near Springfield Oregon. It's about 40 miles Northwest of Portland. And unlike Monty Burns' place, Trojan's no longer functioning.

[SmileyBoy]

18. In one episode where Homer and Bart were driving to the Edison Museum...

...they were exiting Springfield, and driving to New Jersey. the exit sign said "Exit to New Jersey, Michigan, Oregon, Florida and Texas".

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

19. Springfield Ohio...rustbelt posterchild (pix)

....maybe more Simpsonesque...very "Roseanne" & "Grace Under Fire", too...

[Magrittes Pipe]

28. On the left-hand side of the first pic, under the Goodyear sign...

...you can see a little blue vertical sign with red neon.

That's Schuler's bakery, and they make the Best. Donuts. Ever.

That's the East Main Street Schuler's, the one in front of which the hookers ply their trade.

[Heyo]

23. But Springfield...

has to be on the west coast....

Cause when Homer went to the ocean..Marge knew where he was becuse "Springfield slopes down that way"

Springfield is not really in any state.. thats the thing..

I thing they goofed on the Area code but it doesn't mean anything..

Heyo

[DrBB]

24. I'm just saying, it's the one determinate, unequivocal location clue

..they've ever given. Those numbers are unique, and they used one that has an actual referent. I know none of the other features fit--it's a FICTIONAL TOWN, after all. But this is a single, determinate, unique location identifier--no way around it. No less than if they'd given a zipcode, you know?

And yes, it's completely silly, I know that. It's just something they tease about all the time, and here they've gone and, well, slipped up I guess. Not that it matters.

[Nevernose]

27. Ridiculous. From the area codes given...

...they're quite clearly in Puerto Rico. There's the same amount of proof to support Puerto Rico as there is Missouri.

Springfield is a coastal city, as evidenced by the numerous ocean-related episodes. Also, Grandpa has a passionate hatred of "Missoura" and refuses to recognize it as a state, implying that he doesn't live there.

:D

[democracyindanger]

30. Sorry, but if it's any place, which it's not,

it's Oregon.

"Springfield, Oregon Helped inspire the name of the Simpsons' hometown. Growing up in Portland, Groening thought Springfield, the Anderson family's hometown on TV's "Father Knows Best," was the Springfield in Oregon. Also chosen because of the name's ubiquity."

http://www.movingtoportland.net/matt_groening_map.htm

But really, it's not any place.