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 41 of 936 notable people

0003 ACTOR

Lillian Gish

1893 - 1993

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0012 PHOTOGRAPHER

Berenice Abbott

1898 - 1991

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0044 SCREENWRITER

W. R. Burnett

1899 - 1982

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0073 EXPLORER

Jimmie Angel

1899 - 1956

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0090 ASTRONOMER

Seth Barnes Nicholson

1891 - 1963

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0101 WRITER

Lois Lenski

1893 - 1974

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0123 ACTIVIST

Ruth Ellis (activist)

1899 - 2000

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0139 CHEMIST

Rachel Fuller Brown

1898 - 1980

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0160 HISTORIAN

Sherburne F. Cook

1896 - 1974

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0177 PHYSICIAN

Cornelius P. Rhoads

1898 - 1959

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0182 BASEBALL

Rabbit Maranville

1891 - 1954

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0199 CHEMIST

Robert Corey

1897 - 1971

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0234 ACTOR

Lloyd Whitlock

1891 - 1966

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0237 MANAGER

Lemuel Boulware

1895 - 1990

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0253 ACTOR

Ralph Sanford

1899 - 1963

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0287 BIOLOGIST

Chester Ittner Bliss

1899 - 1979

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0293 VISUAL EFFECTS

Edmund H. Hansen

1894 - 1962

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0344 BASKET

Bernie Bierman

1894 - 1977

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0383 POLITICIAN

Louis E. Miller

1899 - 1952

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0401 PHYSICIST

Gladys Anslow

1892 - 1969

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0415 MILITAR

Raymond S. McLain

1890 - 1954

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0419 OFFICER

Stuart H. Ingersoll

1898 - 1983

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0429 COLLECTOR

Helen Hartness Flanders

1890 - 1972

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0458 ART DEALER

Francis Lenn Taylor

1897 - 1968

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0463 MILITAR

Harold R. Bull

1893 - 1976

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0507 PRIEST

John Baptist Franz

1896 - 1992

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0521 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Ruth Sawtell Wallis

1895 - 1978

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0549 LITERARY

Herbert Gorman

1893 - 1954

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0699 PUBLISHER

William Warder Norton

1891 - 1945

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0712 BASEBALL

Freddy Leach

1897 - 1981

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0724 BASEBALL

Snooks Dowd

1897 - 1962

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0764 SPORT

Dan Daniel (sportswriter)

1890 - 1981

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0769 PHOTOGRAPHER

Paul Henderson (photojournalist)

1899 - 1988

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0799 BASEBALL

Otto Neu

1894 - 1932

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0807 ARMY

Frances Gulick

1891 - 1936

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0846 BASEBALL

Bob Kinsella

1899 - 1951

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0852 FOOTBALL

Maynard Street

1898 - 1993

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0857 LAWYER

Gilbert H. Jertberg

1897 - 1973

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0871 BASEBALL

Frank Thompson (third baseman)

1895 - 1940

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0901 LAWYER

Charles B. Zimmerman

1891 - 1969

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0936 SAXOPHONIST

Horace Eubanks

1894 - 1948

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