Spingfield, Missouri was once home to an extensive streetcar network that in 1929 covered the entire city with access to public transportation. Park Central Square was a beehive of activity, with streetcar lines from four directions meeting in a grand circular junction of rails and wires. In 1936, the Springfield Traction Company announced that the beloved streetcars would be replaced by gasoline powered buses, because it seemed “the modern thing to do.” After the final “streetcar parade” in August of 1937, the streetcars, like so many others across the country, faded into history. Succumbing to the forces of improved roads and increased private automobile ownership, the streetcars that created the American city on their characteristic patterns of development went from being the most modern transportation system in the world to nothing but a quaint memory in the hearts of romantics.
Today, streetcars are being proven in city after city across the country as a successful means of spurring development in downtown areas, from Portland, Oregon to Tampa, Florida. And while some streetcar systems can be expensive, building an effective streetcar link is far cheaper than many in local governments around the area may realize. Kenosha, Wisconsin spent $6 million on a streetcar loop that covered their entire downtown district, and in return got $150 million worth of downtown, brownfield, and lakefront development. Streetcar tracks bring development, and that is what downtown Springfield needs. With the recent report that the Expo Center will need $53 million in private investment in the surrounding area to make it truly competitive, and an additional $24 to $55 million in public subsidies, the comparatively low costs of streetcar development become eye-opening.
Springfield Streetcar will be developing a plan for implementing streetcars in downtown Springfield, Missouri, hoping to generate interest among citizens, businesses, and government in the benefits of rail-based public transportation in the areas of tourism, economics, and sustainability.
Join us and come ride the streetcar!
Springfield Streetcar 
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