“It’s a great place to raise a family,” says Springfield Commissioner Paul Wechsler, who knows firsthand.

The area first reared its head in the 1680s, as Quaker settlers cleared a north-south pathway (now Springfield Road) through what was known as Amosland. At the turn of the century, road crews tackled the more ambitious project of building east-west Baltimore Pike, and Amos would become more famous as Springfield.

Two centuries later, merchants had made Baltimore Pike a teeming commercial stretch. After World War II, the construction of single-family housing developments and Springfield Shopping Center forged the locale’s modern suburban character. In the 1960s, the addition of discount department store E.J. Korvette attracted eager shoppers from well outside the township. The next decade brought the Springfield Mall, plus its acreage of bright lights and big stores.

On a smaller scale, the Saxer Avenue and Brookside Road retail districts are close to trolley stops and have long been favorites of shoppers on foot. At a time when many suburbs want to develop “town centers” with a neighborhood feel, Springfield already has one in place. Now, following a two-year study, a streetscape improvement project for Saxer and Brookside is “shovel-ready and looking for funding,” says Wechsler, who adds that the township also hopes to develop a business improvement district to “enhance the character” of Baltimore Pike.

Meanwhile, the Springfield Country Club hosts the public on its golf course and ice skating rink, and in its spacious swimming pool, which recalls the vanished private Palm Beach Swim Club (now a car dealership) on the northeast corner of Route 420 and Baltimore Pike. With a clubhouse reminiscent of Churchill Downs, a sundeck that cooked, a seriously high diving board, and a waterslide that could captivate an 11-year-old, Palm Beach once combined old-school charm with the antic splash of emerging modern life. And the adjacent Charley’s served a mean birch beer.