Springfield, Missouri (1983: Doomsday)

Springfield is a city in southern Missouri which has been run by crime bosses since shortly after September 25, 1983. It was spared destruction, becoming the northernmost city north on I-44. Known for mercenaries and homegrown drugs (most notably marijuana), its existence kept Joplin explorers from venturing north towards Kentucky for years. The collapse of the city and Greene county governments was swift with no records as to what happened.

History
Southern Missouri was home to a tribe of Kickapoo, and after the territory was formed became home by treaty to resettled Delaware tribes as well. After Missouri became a state in 1821, the area covering most of the southern part was named Greene county in honor of Revolutionary hero Nathaniel Greene. The city of Springfield was most likely named for Springfield, Tennessee, but may have been named after the Massachusetts town by the same name.

Strategically on the road west, first railroads and then highways passed through Springfield on the way from Chicago to the west coast. Violence marked two eras within the period between the Civil War and World War I. The "Wild West" began there in 1865 with the shootout between "Wild" Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt. Hickok put a bullet through Tutt's heart from 75 yards away using a handgun. The feat made him famous. In 1906, a dark period of segregation and racial strife came to a head when a large lynch mob broke into the jail and publicly hung, and then burned, three black men accused of rape and murder. Evidence seems to indicate that all three were innocent. This caused an exodus of blacks from the town that in 1980 had only about 3% African American.

Doomsday and Aftermath
The city's population in 1983 was around 135,000, in a metropolitan area of around 400,000. Such a large population, though was paralyzed when the northern horizon began to glow and the ground shake from hundreds of ground bursts of megatonnage nuclear fury. Power was gone, and so was communication. Up Interstate 44 the military base known as Ft. Leonard Wood was reduced to cinders as well. The city began to swell within days with refugees from adjacent counties within the glow of the nuclear conflagration. On October 1, 1983, Lt. Gov. Ken Rothman arrived with what could only be described as a desperate band of bureaucrats. Surviving accounts, recovered only recently, recount how Rothman claimed that his "team" had separated from a much larger group "just in case" Gov. Chip Bond did not make it to safety. Conflicting reports indicate that an attempt was made to set up a provisional state government. The attempt failed, however, when corrupt officials within the Greene County government took over city hall. In riots over food supplies during the latter part of November Rothman was killed. Rumors abounded that it was by some of his own staff.

By the end of the summer of 1984, not one of the elected officials of Springfield or Greene County was alive. Only a few of Rothman's staff had escaped to Joplin to tell the stories of ruthless gangs taking over and restoring "order" at a price. Most of the surviving citizens of Greene County - estimated at around 200,000 at the time - had been happy to see order restored. Anyone who crossed the "bosses," though, would simply "disappear." The fields around the town grew an ample supply of grain, fruit and vegetables. Villages and towns within the county each had "elected" officials that were in affect chosen before hand by the syndicate bosses. These leaders assured compliance by providing "security" and directing distribution of goods produced.

When visited by officials and travelers from Joplin, the city leaders were always aware due to a system of watchmen on all the roads in and out of the county. Great care was made to assure a positive impression, but no one was ever aloud to pass through the county to points beyond. Tales of the horrors found at Ft. Leonard Wood and beyond usually sent visitors back thankful that they were survivors.

Present Day
More to come. ..