40.3596° N, 82.2875° W

SPRINGFIELD

Most Famous People Born in Springfield, United States

Notable people
936
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1933
Most distinctive
Baseball 9.5×

There are several Springfields in this dataset and they blur together statistically, which is the point - the 9.5× Baseball over-index is small-town America's pre-television obsession crystallized, the era when every Midwestern Springfield fielded a semi-pro team and a few of those kids made the Cardinals or Reds. The 2.6× Lawyer ratio is the Lincoln-era Springfield, IL signal still echoing through the data.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Springfield during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 90 notable births.

What Springfield Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Springfield's biggest profession — 13% of all notables (124).

Springfield over-indexes on baseball — 9.5× the global rate.

Springfield under-produces football — only 0.7× the global rate.

  1. Politician124
  2. Baseball101
  3. Football72
  4. Actor59
  5. Lawyer43
  6. Basket38
  7. Music26
  8. Writer23
  1. Baseball1019.5×
  2. Basket383.2×
  3. Lawyer432.6×
  4. Novelist92.4×
  5. Screenwriter92.2×
  6. Music261.9×
  7. Officer101.6×
  1. Football720.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Springfield's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

16501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Science
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Showing 28 of 936 notable people

0030 WRITER

Vachel Lindsay

1879 - 1931

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0070 POLITICIAN

Jesse H. Jones

1874 - 1956

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0087 NOVELIST

Louise Closser Hale

1872 - 1933

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0120 ENGINEER

Russell W. Porter

1871 - 1949

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0126 BOTANIST

George Harrison Shull

1874 - 1954

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0136 FILM

William J. Humphrey

1875 - 1942

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0170 POLITICIAN

Roscoe C. Patterson

1876 - 1954

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0235 SOCIOLOGIST

Albert Galloway Keller

1874 - 1956

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0284 ACTOR

Peter Robinson (sideshow artist)

1874 - 1956

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0285 ARTIST

Ethel Mars (artist)

1876 - 1959

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0362 POLITICIAN

Daniel F. Minahan

1877 - 1947

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0372 HISTORIAN

Charles Upson Clark

1875 - 1960

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0407 COMPOSER

Chester Edward Ide

1878 - 1944

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0443 SCULPTOR

Kuhne Beveridge

Born 1874

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0493 BASEBALL

Danny Shay

1876 - 1927

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0495 SPORT

Irving Calkins

1875 - 1958

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0556 ACTOR

Theodore Lorch

1873 - 1947

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0560 CARTOONIST

Ryan Walker (cartoonist)

1870 - 1932

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0566 COMPOSER

Thurland Chattaway

1872 - 1947

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0577 BASEBALL

Jiggs Donahue

1879 - 1913

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0649 BASEBALL

Mike Mitchell (baseball)

1879 - 1961

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0670 MILITAR

Otis B. Duncan

1873 - 1937

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0725 BASEBALL

Chappie Snodgrass

1870 - 1951

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0740 COACH

Arthur McFarland

1874 - 1959

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0771 BASEBALL

Dick Harley (pitcher)

1874 - 1961

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0823 BASEBALL

John Malarkey

1872 - 1949

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0874 POLITICIAN

P. S. Terry

1876 - 1936

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0875 FOOTBALL

Nicholas Dinkel

1874 - 1919

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