WEBB CITY, Mo. —
Thomas Gubbels, on Saturday, took his audience back to a time when paved roads were a luxury.
Gubbels, a history professor from Lincoln University, talked about Missouri’s highway system, specifically about historic Route 66 and the interstate infrastructure. Gubbels’ appearance at the Webb City Library was sponsored by the Webb City Genealogical Society, the Webb City Historical Society and the Webb City Friends of the Library.
“If you looked at Missouri roads over 100 years ago,” he said, “they were nothing but mud.”
That’s why Gubbels calls his historical presentation “Lifting Missouri Out of the Mud,” in which he visits areas throughout the state and talks about the importance of understanding the history of the highway system’s creation. Before becoming a professor, Gubbels was a historian for the Missouri Department of Transportation.
“I’m one of the ‘road nerds’ who likes to figure stuff out instead of just getting from Point A to Point B,” Gubbels said.
He talked about the interstate being more than just an infrastructure, and that its creation was an influence for modern American culture. Before interstates connected cities, the traditional “mom and pop” dining locations were the norm. Nowadays, with the ease of traveling from place to place, Gubbels said people want “everything the same,” so large fast food and restaurant chains overtook small-town eating establishments with the formation of the interstate system. He calls it the “McDonald-ization” of American culture.
“His topic of Route 66 and the Missouri highway system was relevant, certainly, for peoples’ immigration and traveling,” said Patty Freeman, president of the Webb City Genealogical Society, about why Gubbels was asked to speak.
Gubbels’ presentation on the third floor wasn’t the only portal to the past. His assembly was planned in connection with the Smithsonian Institute’s Journey Stories traveling exhibit, which is on display on the library’s first floor until Feb. 19.
“It’s the story of how we came to be where we are,” said Eileen Nichols, president of the Webb City Historical Society.
Journey Stories talks about how and why people immigrated to the United States, as well as how the evolution of transportation influenced the settlement of the country. Nichols estimated that over 1,000 school-age children have visited the exhibit in field trips.
Added to the Journey Stories exhibit are local historical artifacts, as well as narratives from local families and their stories of how they came to live in this area.
“Before the 1800s, no one lived here,” Nichols said. “There was no permanent settlement here, so everyone in this area has a journey story.”
Webb City’s Genealogical Society, Historical Society and Friends of the Library have one more event planned to correlate with the Journey Stories exhibit. Steve Weldon will visit the library at 2 p.m. Saturday and speak about population movement in Jasper County during the Civil War.
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