What state?

I don't believe they ever indicated which state Springfield was in. Although, they did say the family lived in the midwest when Betty won a contest to spend some time in Hollywood because she looked like a current movie star.

So that probably would put it in Illinois or Missouri or Ohio?



"I'm trying to live forever. So far, so good."

It is never stated, but there were discussions of Betty's long trip to Hollywood and Margaret's long trip to meet Jim in New York. On the other hand there were the very casual feelings in the family when Bud joins the debating team on their trip to Chicago. So Illinois is a good guess, maybe Indiana. There was also an episode where all the kids were surprised about anyone they knew living on a farm. So I assume Iowa is out and probably Wisconsin.

Kind of like Leave It to Beaver. No location is specifically stated, but one assumes the midwest. In one episode Ward is identified as the former sheik of Shaker Heights (Ohio) and June as the belle of East St. Louis (Illinois). Funny they used that town. Perhaps at the time June was born it wasn't a bad place to live, but today it is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country. Later in the series Beaver talks of going surfing, so as we see consistency was not a big item on their agenda. Don't think anyone anticipated reruns, especially going on for more than 50 years. The surfboarding references were just a way to include a than pop culture phenomenon, brought on by the Beach Boys string of hit recordings.

In Season 2, Episode 3, titled "Lesson in Civics", Jim Anderson states that George Washington stopped in Springfield in route to his 1789 inauguation in NYC.

Being a Virginian that would imply more so that Springfield is located in an Eastern state. Perhaps Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania or New Jersey. To conform with that information.

There's an episode called "Family Goes to New York," where Margaret talks about the drive taking under 24 hours. Another episode mentions Altoona, PA being a distance but not ridiculously far away. So I always assumed Ohio.

Of course, the producers went out of their way to avoid mentioning a state. Even when a letter address was once shown, it simply said "Springfield," with no state!

Leave it to Beaver did the same, The Donna Reed Show and Lassie as well. Even later shows, such as Mama's Family. I wonder why?

Those are good points you made Ron. I noticed both in Father Knows Best and LITB, that there are certain episodes that can lock you into a pretty specific location (such as the Midwest), but then another episode pops up that places them 1000 miles away at another location.

So they are really making it Anytown, USA.

A thousand miles from the coast as per the episode 'Short Wave'.

In Season 2, Episode 33 (Hero Father), it is stated that Duke Snider's All-Stars will have to pass through Springfield on the way from Pittsburgh to Duluth, but since states aren't mentioned, who's to say Duluth isn't in Georgia, rather than the more obvious Minnesota?

In the reunion movie Kathy and her boyfriend Jason are said to have come from Kansas City but it's not stated if it's Kansas or Missouri (I'm ruling out the one in Oregon due to several things already mentioned that lean toward the Midwest.) Jason does say something about having come 500 miles to Springfield. According to Mapquest, it's about 330 miles from Kansas City, Kansas to Springfield, Illinois...but just over 500 to Springfield, Indiana. Both Springfields are approximately 150 miles from Chicago. IMHO, I'm leaning towards Indiana.