CVB closes Battlefield Road tourist center

The Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau yesterday closed a 22-year-old tourist information center on East Battlefield Road.

The CVB Board of Directors opted to close the center, 3315 E. Battlefield Road, due to declining visitor counts - which the CVB attributes to increased usage of SpringfieldMo.org for information on the city - and increasing operating costs, according to a news release.

This year, the center served about 12,000 visitors. Its peak year was in 1997, with 81,789 visitors, and its record month was set in July 1992, with 12,872 visitors. Since opening in April 1990, the center served more than 1.3 million visitors.

Volunteers will continue to be utilized at the CVB's 815 E. St. Louis St. center - which underwent a Route 66-style facelift this summer - and the bureau's welcome center at the Springfield-Branson National Airport, which early this year selected the CVB to manage its advertising placements.