A saw and grist mill was constructed in the vicinity of what is today Springfield between 1796 and 1800. Owned by James Keene, it gave its name to today’s Old Keene Mill Road. The mill served farms in the area for around sixty years before its discontinuation when William H. Keene was convicted and imprisoned for the 1855 murder of Lewis Quincy Hall. Nothing remains of it today save for two mill races.

Springfield was founded in 1847 around the Orange and Alexandria Railroad’s Daingerfield Station; this is today the Backlick Road Virginia Railway Express station, located off Backlick Road. The station was named for “Springfield Farm”, owned by Henry Daingerfield, an Alexandria businessman who sat on the railroad’s board of directors. The post office was completed sometime after 1851. It was in existence at the time of the American Civil War, being the site of a skirmish on October 3, 1861 and a Confederate raid on August 3, 1863. The station served as the first Springfield Post Office from 1866 to 1868.

In 1877, Richard Moore petitioned for a post office, which he named Moor; it was located about a little over a mile south of the station, near the intersection of Fairfax (now Old Keene Mill) and Backlick roads. The post office name was changed in 1881 to Garfield to honor the late President James A. Garfield, who had been assassinated that year. In 1907, the Garfield post office closed and a new postal station named Corbett (after the then-landowner) opened back at the railroad station. The name “Springfield” was reinstated for good on June 27, 1910, although the name Garfield continued to appear on maps at least through the 1930s. The post office was moved to a new site in 1933.

Springfield remained a rural crossroads until 1946, when realtor Edward Carr decided to subdivide the area for suburban development along the recently opened Henry Shirley Highway (now I-95/I-395). Carr believed this to be the last easily accessible tract within 12 miles of Washington, D.C., and indeed, the newly developed area grew quickly. In 1950, the area had an estimated population of 1,000; Robert E. Lee High School was built in 1957. By 1960, the population was reported as over 10,000; it grew past 25,000 by 1970 with the North and West Springfield neighborhoods.

Springfield became a major retail destination with the opening of the Springfield Mall (now Springfield Town Center) in 1973–75 (the second regional shopping center in Northern Virginia after Tysons Corner), as well as the Springfield and Brookfield shopping centers. The 1980s and 1990s saw the expansion of retail and high-density housing in the area, at least until the opening of the Franconia-Springfield Parkway in 1996, and the Franconia-Springfield Metro and Virginia Rail Express Station in 1997. The mall was renovated and re-opened in 2014.