In 1791, when General Arthur St. Clair appointed Henry Weaver a territorial justice of the peace, Springfield residents filled many township offices. In 1839, George Breaden was township supervisor and James McLean was constable. In 1840, the trustees elected Breaden constable, Samuel Ledman one of three judges, and John McGilliard, by then Springfield postmaster, the treasurer. George Wilmuth, the innkeeper, lost an election in 1849 for justice of the peace held in the Springfield "schoolroom." The trustees appointed John Cain their constable for that year. The minutes of the township trustees show that these and many other Springfield residents took an active role in township government.

By 1850, residents referred affectionately to the village as "old Springfield." Rows of stately trees lined the portion of the Great Road, or Springfield Pike, which ran through Springfield and was called Main Street, illustrating the village's growing stability. Most of the houses had little or no front yards and were built close to the street with a single step up to the front door. Despite an abundance of open space surrounding the village, the houses sat on small lots, harkening back to a time of Indian troubles and a feeling that physical closeness ensured security. A few houses had been built on Hickory and Walnut streets and along what came to be known as Springdale Road. Most of the vacant lots were owned by people who lived on the Pike and used them for garden plots or for their stables. Community life clearly centered around traffic generated by the turnpike.

Perhaps because of the noise and dirt from Springfield Pike, many of the homes had porches running alongside rather than in front of the house. Shutters on the windows facing the street offered a bit of privacy. The trees along the Pike provided something of a buffer from the busy road. The haphazard placement of flagstones offered the pedestrian little protection from the dirt and mud but an attractive white picket fence gave the street cohesion. Rambling roses, dahlias and sunflowers added an occasional splash of color. Sometimes a particular flower acquired great sentimental value. The Peterson family carefully tended a large sunflower in their side yard. In 1803, Martha Little carried a peony root across the Alleghenies into the wilderness as a reminder of her former life back east.

Sullivan's actions were hardly surprising considering that Springfield, after all, serviced all aspects of the stagecoach business. Travelers expected to quench their thirst and nothing washed the dust of travel from the throat better than a shot of whiskey. The temperance advocates had enough supporters to enable them to build a temperance hall in Springfield on the boundary line of Lots 8 and 9, but they simply could not put the taverns out of business.

The sounds of the forge rang out all over Springfield. Blacksmiths found Springfield's mix of stage and farm traffic very profitable. The noise from the smithy on Lot 13 near the school may have distracted the children from their lessons. The school, a charming white brick building with a cupola situated far back from the street, had been the Springfield Academy, a Presbyterian school for boys. According to Nelson's 1888 History of Hamilton County, the trustees left the school building unfinished. The neighborhood boys raised funds, hired a carpenter and finished the building themselves. This intense concern of the village boys for a school strikes the reader as suspect but Nelson was certainly correct in describing the Springfield Academy as being "for years a local institution of importance." Eventually the academy's trustees began fighting among themselves and the ownership of the school became the subject of litigation. The court sold the property at public auction, at which time it was purchased by the trustees of School District No. 4. Springfield students took their lessons in that little brick building until the present Springfield School was built.

In 1850, many villagers attended the Presbyterian church at the corner of Church and Walnut streets. The church, originally located in the cemetery, had chosen this location for its new building in 1833. The congregation took the old church bell, which in the early days of settlement had warned of Indian raids, and placed it in the new steeple. The bell still warned Springfield residents of danger and, more frequently, summoned them to important events including funerals and village socials. Membership in the church had rebounded to some degree in 1850, after it had been ravaged for three years by controversy over church discipline and slavery.