Springfield, Oregon: Matt Groening announces location of “The Simpsons”

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Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, has officially identified the fictional Springfield inhabited by the yellow-hued family to be Springfield, Oregon. Since the show’s inception in 1989, the true location of Springfield has been kept secret, with the idea that fans would think of Springfield as their own regardless of where they lived, Groening said Tuesday in an interview with Smithsonian Magazine. (Photo: AP / Twentieth Century Fox / Matt Groening)(Now, to some of you fancy New York intellectuals out there, Groening’s announcement may not quite qualify as a “literary event,” but for the past 25 years the Simpson’s Springfield has comprised one of the most most fully realized comic landscapes in the history of American fiction. Thus any information pertaining to the hometown of our nation’s favorite eternally irreverent, yellow-skinned family is not only breaking news, but culturally significant.)
Still, speculation raged. In 2007, Springfield, Vt., won a competition to premier a film version of The Simpsons, beating some dozen other Springfields around the nation. Further muddling the issue, there are nearly 40 Springfields in the United States. “Whenever people say it’s Springfield, Ohio, or Springfield Massachusetts, or Springfield wherever, I always go ‘yup’ that’s right,” Groening told Smithsonian.

But the speculation is over for good. Springfield is a town in western Oregon near Eugene, with about 60,000 residents.

As Groening told the Smithsonian, "Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon. The only reason is that when I was a kid, the TV show 'Father Knows Best' took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown. When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.' And they do."

While this news may come as a surprise to some fans, ABC news reports that natives of the real Springfield, Ore., were made aware of their town’s special place in television history back in 2007, by way of a commemorative plaque signed by Groening, reading “Yo to Springfield Oregon, the real Springfield!”
           
Some may lament the loss of universality that the vagueness of the fictional Springfield’s whereabouts allowed the town to maintain. But in the end, who cares? The Simpson’s Springfield is a comic stand-in for all the small, off-center towns throughout America, made even more relevant by the fact that it actually exists.

Here’s to another 25 years in Springfield, Oregon. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/04/springfield-oregon-matt-groening-announces-location-of-%E2%80%9Cthe-simpsons%E2%80%9D