The land currently recognized as Springfield is the traditional land of the Pennacook and Abenaki people. One of the New Hampshire grants, the township was chartered on August 20, 1761 by Governor Benning Wentworth and awarded to Gideon Lyman and 61 others. Although Springfield's alluvial flats made it among the best agricultural towns in the state, the Black River falls, which drop 110 feet (33.5 m) in 1/8 of a mile (201 m), helped it develop into a mill town.

Springfield was located in the center of the Precision Valley region, home of the Vermont machine tool industry. In 1888, the Jones and Lamson Machine Tool Company (J&L) moved to Springfield from Windsor, Vermont under the successful leadership of James Hartness. Gaining international renown for precision and innovation, J&L ushered in a new era of precision manufacturing in the area.

Edwin R. Fellows co-founded the Fellows Gear Shaper Company here in 1896. As knowledge and infrastructure grew to support precision machining, other companies such as the Bryant Chucking Grinder Company and Lovejoy Tool formed, grew, and provided much of the economic engine. Springfield Telescope Makers, the oldest amateur telescope making club in the United States, has been based in Springfield since its inception in 1920 by Russell W.

Porter. The club's pink clubhouse at the Stellafane Observatory was built in 1923 on Breezy Hill, just south of Springfield village, and has hosted an annual convention for astronomers and telescope makers nearly every summer since 1926. Many notable figures in the fields of astronomy and space exploration have attended the convention over the years. During World War II, Springfield's production of machine tools was of such importance to the American war effort that the US government ranked Springfield (together with the Cone Automatic Machine Company of nearby Windsor) as the seventh most important bombing target in the country.Springfield is also home to the Eureka Schoolhouse, the oldest one-room school in the state of Vermont.

Completed in 1790, the building was in continuous use until 1900 and was restored in 1968 by the Vermont Board of Historic Sites. The school house was named by its first teacher, David Searle, who, after a long journey through the new frontier was heard to cry "Eureka!" upon reaching the new settlement of Springfield.

The name stuck, and "Eureka" can still be found in street and business names throughout Springfield.Several sites in Springfield, including the historic downtown area, have been designated as having historical significance according to the National Register of Historic Places. Among them are the Hartness House (original home of the entrepreneur and governor) and the Gould's Mill Bridge, a steel truss bridge.On July 10, 2007, Springfield was selected to host the premiere of The Simpsons Movie, which, like the Simpsons TV show, is set in a town called Springfield.

In a Fox competition, Vermont was chosen to host the opening for over 13 other places around the nation called Springfield.