Springfield is a small city or town (depending on the episode) in Springfield County, Springfield's State and is located within the continental United States, where the Simpson family lives. The name of the state it is located in has never been revealed, with episode-to-episode evidence being insufficient and contradictory.

The city population is estimated to be approximately 60,000. The zip code is 80085, per "Moe Letter Blues." The city has often been dubbed as the, or at a stretch, one of America's worst towns and called "America's Crud Bucket", "The Armpit of America's Butt-Crack"[7], "The Little Town That Can't and Won't, "The World's Meanest City", as well as being the "World's Fattest Town" and the town with the lowest voter in America. It is one and a half times bigger than Alaska, with West Springfield the shape of Texas.

Founded and created in 1796 by Jebediah Springfield (an alias of pirate Hans Sprungfeld), and a band of fiercely determined pioneers left Maryland after misinterpreting a passage in the Bible, Springfield seems to be a small city rather than a megalopolis. Its features include one nuclear power plant; at least five elementary schools; a minor league all-star baseball stadium; an airport; a harbor; a downtown district; a large tire yard (burning since 1966); a ghetto; a Russian District; its own Little Italy; several specialized shopping districts, Moe's Tavern, Barney's Bowl-A-Rama and a Chinatown.

Springfield's nearest neighboring town is Shelbyville. There is a strong rivalry between the towns, dating back to the rivalry between their founders - Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan. Manhattan wanted to found a city where men were free to marry their cousins, but Springfield refused to allow it, so Shelbyville was founded as a rival town.[8]

HISTORY:("Springfield's namesake founder was Jebediah Springfield.

In its early days, the city was the target of many raids by Native Americans to this day many forts and trading posts remain (including Fort Springfield and Fort Sensible). It was also the site of two battles during the American Civil War. According to Jim Proudfoot the Mohican tribal lands once stretched over Springfield from that Krusty Burger down to Gary's Waterbed Warehouse.[13]

The founder of Springfield was pioneer Jebediah Springfield, widely celebrated in the town as a brave and proud American hero. He famously once killed a bear with his bare hands, and this deed is immortalized in a bronze statue in the middle of a square in front of Springfield County Court House. However historians have since determined that the bear in fact probably killed Springfield, and not vice-versa. The town motto "a noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" is attributed to Jebediah. Lisa Simpson later discovered that Jebediah Springfield was, in fact, Hans Sprungfeld, a murderous pirate, who once to kill George Washington, but eventually suggested that the myth of Springfield should be preserved for the inspiration it gives to people and did not reveal her findings, and the truth is still kept from Springfield to this day.[14]

In 1924 Springfield started a holiday every May 10th called "Whacking Day" as an excuse to beat up on the Irish, and eventually transformed into an event where Springfield's denizens beat several snakes to death and fake history that it was started by town founder Jebediah Springfield. In the mid-20th century, the city reached perhaps the pinnacle of its success when it became the home of the Aquacar, a car which could be driven in the water like a boat. Springfield was declared one of America's fastest-growing cities. At this point, the city's streets were literally paved with gold. But unfortunately, this economy collapsed when it was discovered that the Aquacar was prone to a spontaneous explosion after 600 miles and/or knots.[15] The town has never really recovered from this tragedy (the gold was reportedly shipped to the Sultan of Brunei to encase one of his many elephant herds), but some heavy industry remains in the town, including factories for Ah, Fudge! chocolate, fireworks, candy, children's cartoons, toys, Spirographs, crackers, peanuts, fake vomit, pillows, apple cider, and boxes, as well as a steel mill.

During Homer Simpson's tenure as Springfield's Sanitation Commissioner, however, the whole town was relocated "five miles down the road" and reformed, as the previous location had become flooded with garbage and waste due to Homer's allowing other cities to dump their garbage into the mines that run under the town. Mysteriously, the move was only mentioned once: when Lisa remarked with surprise that they even allowed the casino to come with them when they moved the town while watching its demolition.[16]

Springfield was nearly chosen as the host for the Summer Olympic Games, but Bart Simpson's antics angered representatives from the IOC.[17] It was also nearly awarded an NFL franchise team, The Springfield Meltdowns, but Abraham Simpson attacked the commissioner - mistaking him for a burglar - while he was trying to use the Simpsons' phone.

Bart Simpson once accidentally mooned the U.S. flag, and the Simpsons appeared on a talk show to explain the matter. However, the show's host made it appear that Springfield hates America. When the rest of the U.S. reciprocated this loathing, Mayor Quimby changed the name of Springfield to "Liberty-Ville". An enormous patriotic craze ensued, wherein all items were priced at $ 17.76, even houses.[18]

The town has split at least twice. Once based on area code changes, into New Springfield and Olde Springfield (Not to be confused with the historical site/tourist center of the same name).

The Military once invaded Springfield despite it being an American city due to Homer and his OPNOR unit going A.W.O.L. The colonel placed the town under martial law after Homer went into hiding, and started rounding up people who were either fat, bald, or had ever laughed at the antics of Homer Simpson. He eventually surrendered after Springfield managed to spike the town's reservoir with alcohol, which caused him and his unit to go into a drunken stupor and wake up the next morning with a horrible hangover, although under the condition that Homer finishes up his line of duty by becoming an Army Recruiter.

At one point in the town's history, gambling was legalized due to an economic slump. To attract more people into the town, Springfield legalized gay marriage. The majority of the populace is also quite horrible at paying tax returns, with the majority of the population waiting until the last possible day to file their tax returns as evidenced by the huge amount of lines at the Post Office on Tax Day, with some even mistaking it for a Metallica concert line, some hiring accountants who are just as bad as themselves in regards to paying taxes on time, and some even falsifying many of their actual expenditures while undergoing a last minute rundown on tax returns, misshaping the envelope containing the tax returns, and eventually being arrested by the FBI/IRS for severe audits.[19]")

TRAPPUCCINO:("Lisa Simpson and Colin spearheaded an effort to clean Lake Springfield, which was heavily polluted. After a town-wide cleanup, the lake was polluted again single-handedly by Homer Simpson, who dumped a large silo of "pig crap" (and it is implied that also of his own) into the lake, polluting it to unsurpassed levels. To keep the pollution from spreading to other towns, Russ Cargill, head of the EPA, convinced President Arnold Schwarzenegger to (unknowingly) seal Springfield inside a gigantic dome (built by a company owned by Cargill).

During that time, the town fell into ruin and was plagued by power shortages (Mr. Burns refused to give free power) and lack of supplies. After ninety-three days the town rioted and Stampy made a small crack in the dome; Cargill tricked the President into blowing up Springfield. The dome was later destroyed by Homer and Bart Simpson when the bomb, the same bomb from which Cargill intended to destroy the town) was thrown out of the dome and landing on the top of it. Later, the town had its civilization rebuilt. This opening sequence is cutting this head of statue of Statue of Jebediah Springfield which Kearney and Jimbo cutting the head.")

GEOGRAPHY:("Springfield's geography includes big mountains, maybe part of Rocky Mountains, and a lot of hills, gorges, giant redwood trees, a desert, a forest, lakes, rivers and a volcano. It is located on the coast of a large body of water, possibly an ocean. It has also been stated that "West Springfield" is three times the size of Texas, and looks exactly like Texas in shape.

Major geographic features include Springfield Gorge, Springfield National Forest, Mt. Springfield, Springfield Harbor, the Springfield Badlands, the Murderhorn, Springfield Glacier, Widow's Peak, and Mt. Carlmore.[20]

The Zip code is 58008 according to "Moe Letter Blues", where Moe mentions that he moved to Springfield because the Zip code spelled "BOOBS" on the calculator. The Zip code 58008 belongs to Barney, ND.

The City is claimed by Ned Flanders to be bordered by the states of Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky. The proof of this was shown in The Simpsons Movie during the hike Flanders and Bart went on. This is geographically impossible as only Ohio and Kentucky share borders and Nevada being on the other side of the country from the other three. However, in other episodes, Springfield is shown to be within driving distance from Washington, D.C. and New York City.

In "The Burns Cage", presumably now Springfield is located in the middle of America.")

ENVIRONMENT:("Climate Springfield is located in an area that receives rain and snow. Most of the time the skies are blue and mostly sunny.

Springfield is also subject to a number of natural disasters including avalanches, earthquakes, acid rain, floods, hurricanes, lightning strikes, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions. Being situated in a valley, Springfield likely boasts a humid-subtropical climate, due to panic during snow storms as suggested in the Season 4 episode "Mr. Plow". In the episode "Hurricane Neddy", Hurricane Barbara strikes in Springfield and destroys Ned Flanders' home. All of Springfield is panicking, suggesting that hurricanes are rare in the city.

In "Brawl in the Family", there is an acid rainstorm in Springfield, caused by The "Evil" Republican Party, attempting to make caring for the environment illegal.

Pollution Visitors from elsewhere are advised to constantly wear radiation suits and carry Geiger counters, since the city is perhaps the most radioactive in the U.S. This is because the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant was built during an incredibly lax period for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in which the plant's nuclear core was surrounded not by several layers of protective concrete and graphite but by ordinary plaster with a horseshoe hanging from a nail. Also, management apparently gives employees benefits for storing nuclear waste in buildings; in some episodes, barrels of waste have been seen in the Simpsons' basement. Also perhaps due to this, the book reports that international law forbids shipping produce from Springfield; those who do venture into a local supermarket or farmer's market may find that it gives off a barely audible hum. Springfield is also "proudly" home to the state's largest tire fire, which has been continuously burning for approximately 42 years, which does nothing to improve the air quality.

Springfieldians have a very uncaring attitude towards the environment. The Springfield Shopper is proud of the fact that they use absolutely no recycled material in their paper. Even the mention of the word can cause one of the town residents to pass out from boredom, or at least slam the door in the face of plucky little girls concerned about the state of their town without a second thought, or even throw anything they can get their hands on at the Green Day raft just for saying that they wanted to talk about it. In fact, the only time they even seemed to care is literally when they drink it.

There have also been instances of accidental pollution, such as when Captain Horatio McCallister once crashed an oil tanker around the Springfield coast in a drunken stupor. McCallister also, while still drunk, seemed to think there was no way out of the predicament until he suggested to a newscaster to take the blame for him in the middle of a live broadcast.")

CITYSCAPE:("The city is divided into a number of districts, including Skid Row, the Lower East Side (a Jewish neighborhood), Springfield Heights, Bum Town, East Springfield, Recluse Ranch Estates, Junkieville, Pressboard Estates, South Street Squidport, Little Newark, Crackton, a Russian District, West Springfield, Tibet Town, Waverly Hills, Sprooklyn, Little Italy, and a gay district.

For a brief period, Springfield divided itself into two cities, Olde Springfield and New Springfield, on the basis of an area code division. Wealthy Olde Springfield, with Mayor Quimby, anchorman Kent Brockman, and bullies such as Nelson Muntz, was separated from the rest of Springfield by a wall that was erected by poor New Springfield. Mayor Quimby maintained control of Olde Springfield while Homer Simpson ran New Springfield. The cities were later reunited through a concert by The Who.

The city's Main Street is in a pitiful state of disrepair, owing to citizens driving along it while carrying excessively heavy weights and leaving snow chains on their tires after the snow has melted. Some of the potholes have become so wide that entire cars and trucks can (and have) fallen into them.

Towns near Springfield include North Haverbrook, Shelbyville, Ogdenville, Brockway, Guidopolis and Cranford.")

PEOPLE AND CULTURE:("The geographic location of Springfield is unknown and possibly unknowable, but Springfield is generally considered to depict, in a lampooning manner, "bread-and-butter" Middle America, culturally somewhere between a suburb and a small town. Springfieldians are not, for the most part, cosmopolitan, and most are of lower-middle to middle income.

The "small-town nastiness" of Springfield is made evident by a benighted tradition of "snake-whacking" whereby, annually, Springfieldians bludgeon snakes to death. Lisa Simpson, disgusted by this activity, encourages the people of Springfield to quit the tradition with the aid of soul singer Barry White, as well as Bart Simpson, the latter of whom exposed that the holiday actually started as an excuse to beat up the Irish.

Springfieldians have a very bad reputation. As described by Dr. Hibbert, it is a town where the smartest have no power and the stupidest run everything. A fairly accurate statement considering that the offices of the police chief and mayor respectively are run by clearly incompetent and corrupt individuals, those few who are competent in official positions are soon replaced by other incompetents, such as former trash commissioner Ray Paterson being kicked out of office to be replaced by Homer Simpson. TIME magazine once did a cover story on Springfield entitled "America's Worst City," and Newsweek has referred to the city as "America's Crud Bucket," the town actually has a billboard saying it is the "Meanest town in America." Most citizens are very stupid, overweight, and also quick to anger, though it should be noted that Shelbyville residents are even stupider and more backward. One example of the citizens' gross stupidity is when they once managed to reelect Quimby in a landslide, despite admitting in a stump speech that he had used the town's treasury to fund the murder of his enemies, simply because he paraphrased Gabbo's trademark line "I'm a bad widdle boy."[21] There is a riot almost every month. A majority of the time, the Springfieldians are shown to be especially fair-weather and fickle towards the Simpson family, even by close friends and other family members. Springfield also has a strange smell that is uncomfortable to new residents. It is usually about six weeks before they adjust. Springfield is also the first United States city to abandon the Metric system. Another thing to note is Springfield is very well armed. As seen in several episodes a fair amount of people owns guns.

It is noted by the Duff Book of World Records as the World's Fattest Town[22] which they are quite proud of.")

DEMOGRAPHICS:(There are a surprising number of prisons in Springfield, including Springfield Penitentiary, Springwood Minimum Security Prison, Springfield Women's Prison, Springfield Juvenile Correctional Facility, Morningwood Penitentiary and Montgomery Burns State Penitentiary. Springfield Elementary School was even once semi-converted into a prison. The Springfield Police Department, commanded by Police Chief Clancy Wiggum, is a largely corrupt and incompetent organization. According to Wiggum, they only have plenty of manpower to enforce the last three laws passed. Another time, Lou pointed out that himself, along with Wiggum and Eddie, were the entire police force. However, there were also episodes which shows a much larger police force. Although, due to the equipment they had, they may also had been F.B.I members, and Chief Wiggum, Eddie and Lou merely joined them during that raid. There was also a time in the town's history where the police duties were handed over from the Springfield Police Department over to a private security company called SpringShield, which was run by Homer with the help of his friends Lenny and Carl, who did a far better job. However, due to doing a far better job than the actual police, they became target of the mob and criminal chiefs, such as Fat Tony, and even criminal chiefs from other towns and cities. Lenny and Carl, in a moment of cowardice, fearing for their lives, literally put themselves in one of the station's cells, leaving Homer on his own against the criminals. Due to Wiggum becoming the Police chief once again, and SpringShield getting dissolved, this may had been one of the reasons the group had to disolve.

Most organized crime in town is controlled by mob boss Fat Tony. However, there are other crime families in Springfield -- including the Yakuza.")

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT:("Springfield boasts an opera house, an outdoor amphitheater, an arboretum, a vibrant jazz scene, and was mentioned as the entertainment capital of its state. There is also an unusually high number of museums, including Springfield Natural History Museum (which features the world's largest cubic zirconia), Springfield Knowledgeum, Springsonian Museum, Springfield Wax Museum, the Springfield Palace of Fine Arts, the Museum of Swordfish and a stamp museum. Springfield once had a concert hall, but it was closed down after the first two measures of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and turned into the Montgomery Burns State Penitentiary. Springfield has two movie theatres: the Aztec Theater and the Springfield Googolplex Theatres. It also has a drive-in theater and a dinner theater.")

MEDIA:("The city paper is The Springfield Shopper, and the most popular TV station is KBBL-TV (Channel 6), with Kent Brockman, Scott Christian and Arnie Pye on the news, Krusty the Clown and Sideshow Mel doing shows, and Bill and Marty on the radio. Alternatively, Channel Ocho is a Spanish language/Latino channel featuring Bumblebee Man.")

RELIGION:("Religion and faith play a large role in Springfieldian society. The largest church community appears to be the First Church of Springfield, a Presbylutheran church headed by Reverend Timothy Lovejoy. There is also a synagogue (led by Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky), a mosque, a Catholic church (The Notre Dame of Springfield), an Episcopal church (with vibrating pews), a crystal cathedral, the Cathedral of the Downtown, and a Buddhist temple. Apu, a Hindu, has a statue of the god Ganesh in the Kwik-E-Mart.

Once, many Springfieldians joined a cult known as Movementarianism, but soon left after it was revealed as a fraud.[23] According to Reverend Lovejoy, there is also an alliance of people who split off from the Presbyterians to worship an Inanimate Carbon Rod.[24] Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson and Lisa Simpson are practicing Buddhists. There is also a Stonecutters Lodge (currently renamed as "The Ancient Society of No-Homers"), of which practically every male in the city (minus Homer Simpson) is a member.

The town government is secular. In 1963, a law was passed which banned praying on city property. Another episode featured a convict who was imprisoned for erecting a nativity scene on city property. Superintendent Chalmers fired new Principal Ned Flanders when he overhears him saying "thank the Lord" over the PA system.[25]")

SPORTS:("There are a number of sports teams and sports arenas: the Springfield Isotopes, a baseball team (which once threatened to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico), the Springfield Speedway, a monster truck rally (featuring Truckasaurus), the Springfield Atoms football team, the Springfield Stun arena football team, the Springfield Ice-O-topes hockey team, the Association of Springfield Semi-Pro Boxers, and a dog track. It also used to have a bull fighting ring. There was also once the Mr. Burns Basketball Stadium which was neglected and subsequently converted into a colossal Bee Hive. Springfield curling team managed to get to the Vancouver Winter Olympics and win gold.")

ECONOMY:("Springfield's economy, although at one time "on the GROW!" and rich to the point that the streets were literally paved with gold, is now floundering. Some heavy industry remains in the town, including factories for Ah! Fudge chocolate, Southern Cracker, fireworks, candy, and boxes, as well as a steel mill. Many Springfieldians are employed by the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. In an episode, it is mentioned by Marge that Frito-Lay has a distribution center in the town.

Major industries include nuclear power, heavy manufacturing, Duff Beer, and retail. Many of Springfield's stores are located in the Springfield Mall.

Springfield tried to improve their economy by legalizing gay marriage and gambling.

In "The Bob Next Door", Springfield's Economy struck an all time low and was suggested to be even worse than Detroit's economic failure, resulting in the stamp out of roadkill pickups, significantly reducing the amount of school time, releasing of low level criminals, and mentioning criminals allowed to commit low-level crimes due to the Police lacking the resources and funding to enforce them.[26]")

INFRASTRUCTURE:("City Springfield operates through a mayor-council form of government. The current mayor of Springfield is Joe Quimby, a sleazy womanizing politician who served at least five consecutive terms as mayor unopposed, he once admitted to using the town treasury to fund the murder of his enemies. He was briefly thrown out in favor of Sideshow Bob but was later reinstated when Bob was impeached and arrested for electoral fraud. His post was threatened by a recall election, but none of the new candidates gained enough of the vote to oust him since the lead candidate who was most voted for was disqualified from the election. It was revealed that he is re-elected so often because his opponent has a long, unpronouncible Slavic Name.

When the mayor briefly skipped town due to missing lottery funds, the town's MENSA chapter (Lisa Simpson, Dr. Hibbert, Lindsey Naegle, Jeffery Albertson and Professor Frink) technocracy took over. They changed clocks to metric time, eliminated the green lights from stoplights, and put the city on the top 300 U.S. cities. It was 299, above East Saint Louis, Illinois.[27]

City Departments Office of the Mayor Police Fire Sanitation[28] Community Development[29] Permitting Child Welfare[30] Health[31] U.S. District In the United States House of Representatives, Springfield was represented by Congressman Bob Arnold, who was later expelled for taking bribes. Horace Wilcox is stated to have been congressman since 1933.[32] After Wilcox's death, Krusty the Clown runs for Congress as a Republican and wins. He is still seen as a representative.[33]

Laws, Statutes, and Propositions Gambling is legal in Springfield, as is gay marriage,[34] trade in children, and fishing with dynamite. For a brief time, prohibition was brought back ("spirituous beverages are hereby prohibited in Springfield under penalty of catapult").[35] An unusual law from 200 years prior dictates that all ducks must wear long pants.

As is with many other towns there are a number of unusual and outdated statutes in Springfield and its town charter, including "the chief constable shall receive one pig every month and two comely lasses of virtue true," "it is illegal to mail threatening letters and to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling," and "five kicks of the same can shall be considered illegally transporting litter.[36]" The Town Charter also stated that Springfield's mayor, after election, cannot be removed from office... except by a recall election.[37]

During the period Snowball was made mayor of the town, Lisa as the 'mayors' owner and 'translator' retracted the second amendment from the town, making it illegal for Springfielders to own guns.

Proposition 24, which would deport all illegal immigrants from Springfield, passed with 95% of the public's support,[38] but was overruled at some point. Marge and her family successfully lobby to get Proposition 242, a "Families Come First" grassroots voter initiative.

It originally had a law that promoted Assisted Suicide, but it had recently been overturned due to a majority of Springfield's voters voting against it, which, as soon as it was overturned, Wiggum immediately arrested an assisted suicide practitioner.

It also featured several strict punishments for some law-breaking, including five life sentences of community service being the punishment for buying illegal fireworks according to Chief Wiggum.")

HEALTH AND EDUCATION:("Springfield operates its own school district, the Springfield Unified School District. The current Superintendent of Schools is Gary Chalmers. The school district oversees all Springfield schools.

There are quite a number of public and private schools in Springfield, including two elementary schools (Springfield Elementary School and West Springfield Elementary School), junior high school, high school and the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children. There are also a number of colleges, including Springfield A&M, Krusty's Clown College,[39] the University of Springfield (a.k.a. Springfield U), and the unfortunately named Springfield Heights Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.). A full list of education institutions in Springfield can be found here.

Springfield has many museums, such as the Springfield Museum of Natural History and the Springfield Knowledgeum. It has a library and an observatory.

Springfield has at least one dog obedience school.

Springfield is known to have at least two hospitals- Springfield General Hospital and the rarely seen Springfield Veteran's Hospital which is described to be the worst of the two hospitals.[40]")

SCHOOL:(“ Springfield Elementary School is an elementary school that Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, and many other children of Springfield, such as Nelson Muntz, Janey Powell, Sherri and Terri. Jimbo Jones, Martin Prince, Ralph Wiggum, and Milhouse Van Houten attend.

It is managed by Principal Seymour Skinner, who is overseen by district superintendent is Gary Chalmers, who often visits the school for routine inspections that go disastrously awry. The school's mascot is a purple puma, of which there is a statue inside the school.[1][2] The school's address is 19 Plympton Street, Springfield, USA.[3] although its address is also believed to be Bart Boulevard.[4]

According to Superintendent Chalmers Springfield Elementary was "once classified the most dilapidated [school] in all of Missouri." It was then shut down, transported to Springfield, and rebuilt brick by brick.[5]

During Field Day on the last day of school, Superintendent Chalmers announces that the students will be competing in the 79th annual Race Around the School.[6]

According to the documentary Springfield Elementary: Where Excellence Is In The Dictionary made by Chalmskinn Productions, Springfield Elementary was "originally designed as a storage facility for salt pork", after which it "at some later point" became a school.[7]

According to the narrator for sports documentary "22 for 30" "Springfield had never won a championship in any sport. The only banner on the gym wall was one that came with the building" and there is just one from the Acme Gym Construction Company placed there in 1926.[8]

A real-life American School Building Standards blueprint of a 1910 elementary school closely matches the exterior of Springfield Elementary.[9]

Springfield Elementary is two stories high with a gym and cafeteria. The basement includes a steam tunnel. In earlier episodes such as seasons 1-5, there is somewhat of a steeple on top of the school roof. The floor plan is identical to that of West Springfield Elementary School. Springfield Elementary School is also based on McCarthy Middle School.

There is a field trip memorial that shows the names of the students who never came back from a field trip.[10] Groundskeeper Willie constantly has to edit the wall, and is very upset when he must engrave the name of a student with a long name.

In "At Long Last Leave", it's mentioned that the school sneaks the kids answers to state tests, yet they still fail.

Springfield Elementary is heavily underfunded. With almost constant reductions in the budget the school has been forced to use rather bizarre methods to make up for the lack of funding, such as being turned into a half-prison, half-school for the duration of one episode. In addition, the school doesn't have disability ramps as the costs would be too big, forcing them to paid for and built by the mob.

It has been stated many times that the school is filled with asbestos. Underfunding of the school has resulted in a variety of troubling scenarios for students and staff. Sub-standard facilities abound, including a cinder block having replaced the school's tetherball. Its periodic table was once said to contain only sixteen elements (all lanthanides), and another time was seen to merely contain advertisements for bologna. A few times, Principal Skinner has been seen resorting to stealing products in order to function. Cafeteria food in particular is low quality, with food being made from circus animals, cow testicles and hearts, shredded newspaper, and old gym mats. Specific objects served include a cheap substitute for Milk called Malk, French fries not made of potatoes with the exception from the fries eaten by the teachers, rat milk, and gravy that is merely water dyed brown, among others, and it at least sometimes fails to provide vegetarian options. It was revealed that Springfield Elementary was at one time voted The Most Dilapidated School in Missouri and was then moved, brick-by-brick, to Springfield.[11] The school is overcrowded because of insufficient funds to build more classrooms.

In addition, the teachers are less than average, known for their lack of ability to teach in one instance they are shown to be unable to teach without answer keys. They are also often seen smoking and drinking within the school premises. Edna Krabappel frequently brings up aspects of her personal life that would be considered unsuitable for elementary school classes, and at one point even managed to sleep on the job due to a hangover that she presumably got the previous day. Lunchlady Doris was forced to use grade F meat. In addition, Elizabeth Hoover has shown herself to be very cynical about her students, even openly telling Ralph Wiggum that the latter deserves to be mocked, and was diagnosed as psychosomatic. In one instance, she also had Ralph sub for her while she just reads in the background, despite Ralph obviously being unqualified for teaching and simply making a random remark before jumping out of the window.

Before Bart came to the school and before Lisa was born, the school had a swimming pool and Groundskeeper Willie was the swim coach. Skinner took the pool out when he spent an entire weekend inside it, among lots of worms, which made him what he is today. This was a prank made by Andy Hamilton, a former student of the school.[12]

The school was once shown to have a tower with a winding staircase inside, which led to a fortification area, a feature that has not appeared since.[13] Other short period additions include a disabled ramp access system constructed by local mafia funding which collapsed shortly thereafter without it ever being used as the student who acted as the reason for building it, Bart Simpson, who was confined to a wheelchair after an accident, had recovered earlier than expected, and was also revealed to have been made out of breadsticks which later forced the school to almost close completely until a toy company bought it. The auditorium was once bulldozed to make way for a mini-mall.

Springfield Elementary was partially converted to a prison to support funds.[14]

The school's address is 19 Plympton Street.[15] When Springfield underwent an economic crisis, Springfield Elementary, as a result of the cutbacks from the slump, significantly shortened the school day to no school at all.

At one time, an oil well was accidentally discovered beneath the school by Groundskeeper Willie while burying Superdude the hamster, which lead Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers to welcome everyone's ideas of how to spend the money, while some ideas were considered ridiculous. Mr. Burns then began to steal the oil from the school, which not only resulted in the loss of their fortune, but the cost of deconstructing the oil platform above the school placed it in a far worse financial state than before, forcing Skinner to get rid of nearly everything in the school. Burns was shot later. It was believed that Skinner was the one who shot him, supported by his going to the bathroom. However, while he did intend to ambush Burns and kill him, he was not the one who shot him, as he had mixed up his camouflage face paint with his mother's makeup while attempting to put camouflage on when it happened, with Chalmers stumbling upon this and thus being able to vouch for Skinner. Similarly, the staff members, more specifically, Groundskeeper Willie and Tito Puente ended up losing their jobs because of the aforementioned severe decrease in the school's financial state from Burns's actions, with both also planning revenge on Burns. Groundskeeper Willie planned to murder Burns and at least initially wound Waylon Smithers (believing that he was responsible for the acts of his employer as well, and likewise was also a suspect to the shooting, although Willie was cleared as a suspect when it was revealed that, thanks to his playing Space Invaders for an implied long time, he developed arthritis in key areas of his hand, meaning he couldn't have shot Burns, while Tito Puente planned to seek revenge on Mr. Burns by making a very unsavory (and catchy, as Wiggum noted) song about him, even murdering the star would be too kind for him, resulting in Puente being cleared as a suspect as well.

The school library was frequently used by the students, although adults who weren't faculty members frequently used the library as well, a notable example being Homer Simpson, who had to use the student library due to the public big people's library in downtown Springfield banning him from the premises due to unpleasantness, and used it to research Thomas Edison to inspire himself to invent new objects.

It is surprising that the school has managed to stay open with all the problems it has. It was also one of the few landmarks that wasn't destroyed during Trappuccino, much to Bart's disappointment because it was summer and no children of Springfield have gone to school. It has also been confirmed in "500 Keys" that there is a hidden classroom, but only for the use of dummies so the school can get publicity.“)