On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the health care system, in a campaign that projected themes of hope and change.

The land that Springfield now occupies was visited first by trappers and fur traders who came to the Sangamon River in 1818.

Wandering poet Vachel Lindsay, most famous for his poem "The Congo" and a booklet called "Rhymes to be Traded for Bread", was born in Springfield in 1879.

The first cabin was built in 1820 by John Kelly, who discovered the area to be plentifully stocked with deer and other wild game. He built his cabin upon a hill, overlooking a creek known eventually as the Town Branch. A stone marker on the north side of Jefferson street, halfway between 1st and College streets, marks the location of this original dwelling.

Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County.