So where IS Springfield, anyway?
Shane Hostetter The Villanovan (Villanova U.) U-WIRE

The number-one rated family in television, The Simpsons, celebrates its 12-year reunion this year as the longest running sitcom in TV history. Despite their show's popularity, the Simpsons themselves remain somewhat mysterious, because the family is without a true home. Any true fan knows, they live in Springfield, but which U.S. state Springfield is in remains a mystery.

Since The Simpsons' birth in 1988, people have longed to discover this well-kept secret, but the real answer is that the Simpsons' Springfield does not exist. It is creator Matt Groening's play on a typical American town name. "That is why I chose it, because it is one of the most common city names," stated Matt Groening last year in a Springfield, Ill., newspaper.

However, Groening does insinuate that he keeps a certain Springfield in mind. His secret is hidden in one of the 28 states that are home to towns or cities with the name Springfield.

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee are all home to a Springfield.

To reveal creator Matt Groening's well kept secret, let's examine the physical characteristics of Springfield's fictional locale to see if they tell the tale.

In one memorable episode, an ocean almost causes the death of Homer, Bart, and their neighbors Ned and Todd Flanders. A white water rafting trip suddenly turns adventurous when Homer loses the map and makes a turn into the paths of ocean-going vessels.

With the group nearly starving and stranded on a raft, Homer uses his stomach as a guide and saves the day by finding a Krusty Burger on an off-shore oil rig.

The importance of this episode is Groening's ocean anecdote. With the presentation of an ocean, the Simpson's Springfield is given a location, one of the U.S. coasts.

The states not bordering an ocean may be eliminated from consideration. Therefore, the Springfields located in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Oregon, North Carolina, South Carolina are left after eliminating 17 of the 28 states. The Simpsons' Springfield has a ranging climate, from snow to extreme heat. In one episode, the Simpson family is huddled around the kitchen radio to see if school is cancelled due to snow. In another episode, the summer causes heat stroke in Springfield, which Homer fights by making a homemade air conditioner with his refrigerator.

States with constant warm or cold climates are eliminated, leaving California, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Oregon, North Carolina, and South Carolina as the only possibilities.

After a Dickensian experience at Krusty the Clown Kamp, Bart, Lisa, and the rest of the campers take over the camp until Krusty comes to see them.

When Krusty sees the harsh conditions of the camp, the clown begs the campers for a second chance at producing a good camp experience, and takes the children on a bus trip to Tijuana, Mexico.

The day trip to Mexico is only possible from the West Coast. This eliminates the central and East Coast states.

California and Oregon are now the only two possible homes for Groening's Springfield.

With the poll of states narrowed to these two, there are an abundance of factors that provide further evidence in finding the truth.

A gorge, a river with a waterfall, a town with one elementary school, an international airport, a TV station large enough to have affiliates, and a town founded by a bear-fighting woodsman are all contributing characteristics in identifying the Simpsons' Springfield, though these characteristics do not exist in one single town.

Springfield is fictional. Groening and the rest of the Simpsons creators have developed this location as a compromise after years of spontaneous thought, and did not wish to be limited by certain characteristics of a real Springfield. Thus, the creativity of these creators was never restricted.

Still, although there is no true Springfield to be discovered, this figment of Groening's imagination had an origin. That town is Springfield, Oregon.

The deciding factor is the nuclear plant where Homer works. Creator Matt Groening grew up in Portland, Oregon.

His first job was in a sewage treatment plant close to a nuclear power plant located in Rainier, Oregon. This nuclear power plant is rumored to hold the qualities found in the Simpsons cartoon. Saying it leaks green ooze and causes three-eyed fish, the locals have long believed this plant to be Groening's inspiration.

David Vosper, a 9-year-old resident of Rainier who often fishes for rainbow trout in the lake in front of the plant, stated that he heard "rumors of eight-legged frogs and three armed turtles in the marshland."

Although there are characteristics that suggest that Groening's Springfield is a California town, these are petty compared to the one major factor: the Oregon nuclear plant.

The Simpsons are a fictional family with a fictional past and a fictional future, but this family has a real origin, the inspiring town of Springfield, Oregon.

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