Stop the Presses: SBJ marks 21st anniversay, progresses with city

This issue of the Springfield Business Journal marks the 21st anniversary of our publishing business.

Volume 1, No. 1 of TOP's Executive Journal (TOP stood for The Ozarks' Pulse), forerunner of the weekly newspaper you hold in your hands today, appeared July 22, 1980.

If the original name on the original banner, was crudely crafted and be-lieve me it was, I was there the mission was finely honed. It remains as true today as it was then.

The Springfield Business Journal staff cooperatively produces the best weekly business newspaper in Missouri. We provide readers with a comprehenisve news product and advertisers with the most effective means of marketing their products and services, while ensuring profits for the company, and financial and career satisfaction for employees.

Whew and we're not modest about it, either. We are also confident that SBJ readers are the most well-educated and influential men and women in southwest Missouri. We're proud to take this statement to the bank and anywhere in the world where mail, e-mail and therefore the Business Journal, can be sent.

In the fast-moving weeks and years since that first issue went to press, this publication and the community it calls home have undergone certain transformations. What remains the same is the simple fact that the Springfield area continues to be the growth leader for the southwest Missouri region attracting customers from across state lines and earning increasing recognition as an emerging major marketplace.

With credit to our friends at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, I present these statistics for your consideration: The number of human beings living in the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area grew 42.8 percent in the 20-year period between April 1, 1980, and April 1, 2000. At the same time, the population of the nation grew a mere 24.2 percent. If you are a native of the area, you have been undergoing culture shock and now you know why.

In the last 20 years, statisticians tell us, per capita income growth for the United States showed a more than 180 percent increase, while the Springfield MSA's per capita income grew more than 190 percent. The gap is rapidly closing.

One has only to visit the Partnership Industrial Park to the northeast of the city for the overwhelming evidence that this "little" town is not so little anymore in spirit it never was, from my observation and experience.

In addition to Springfield's traditional strength as a bastion for thriving small businesses, it is attracting a growing number of larger companies.

When friends gather, they often discuss how the area has grown. I always talk about my first summer here in 1979, when I noticed that on Battlefield Road, right across from Service Merchandise, corn grew as far as I could see.

And now, too, there are more of us relative newcomers around town than "old guard," because lately, more often than not, my story can win an "I remember when" contest.

Personally, in this instant that has lasted more than 21 years, my children grew up, left home, graduated universities, got married (not always in that order), and established their own homes, family units and professions.

Now I'm a grandmom twice, and that's progress, too.

The best progress story about the Business Journal I can tell is that the July 16 issue was our largest ever, and on July 26 (this Thursday evening), we will celebrate regional economic development and our publication's birthday with the second annual Springfield Business Journal Economic Impact Awards at The Tower Club.

Please see page 3 for more information on the Economic Impact Awards, as well as profiles of the six candidates for SBJ's 2001 Lifetime Achievement in Business Award.

We look forward to continuing to serve the business community in the years ahead both as a news and information resource, and as a proponent of responsible growth and best business practices.

Thank you, readers and advertisers, for working with us and supporting us in this often difficult but always rewarding endeavor.