 In the post-Reconstruction years of the late 19th century, Springfield, as a rapidly growing industrial center, was one of those places blacks sought refuge and prosperity, with the city's black population growing by 4 percent per year.By the turn of the century, there were nearly 2,500 blacks in the city, representing about 7 percent of the population, which was about 35,000.The same level of growth had not been true for Springfield's European immigrant population in this period.