Celebrating those helped create 200 years of history

Missouri will celebrate 200 years of history on Tuesday, with Bicentennial events planned across the state.

We were the 24th state, which seems fitting. We fall in the middle of the country and the middle of those achieving statehood.

The celebrations that have been planned were started with the mission to promote a better understanding of Missouri and its regions, communities, and people, both past and present. The Missouri Bicentennial provides opportunities for citizens to celebrate, explore, and share perspectives on the state’s rich history and culture, according to Missouri2021.org.

Butler County made its contribution this week to the state’s time capsule. The items included a book recognizing the victims of the 1927 tornado, a Poplar Bluff plate made for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial and a lapel pin for Interstate 57, which will pass through Butler County when a Missouri-Arkansas leg is completed.

The Missouri Department of Transportation also held a virtual meeting this week to go over plans and drawings for the Highway 67 south improvements.

It’s something that was likely hard to picture in 1997 when work was being done in the hopes of completing four lane improvements between Poplar Bluff and Fredericktown.

There were so many steps that led us to this point, that all started with a simple, ‘what if,’ decades ago.

The impact of everything that led to this day has the chance to change the future not only of Butler County, but create significant changes for our state.

“The largest movement of freight within the Midwest, extends from Chicago, Illinois, to Dallas, Texas. Currently, the majority of this freight moves along the I-57, I-55, and I-40 corridors,” MoDOT area engineer David Wyman explained during this week’s presentation. “When these improvements on future I-57 are completed, it will provide an alternate route that will be available to help move freight throughout the Midwest.”

It was only 136 years ago that Wayne County commissioners met at Greenville to mark out a road to Poplar Bluff, which had only had permanent settlements for a decade or so at that time, according to local historians.

How many ‘what ifs’ did it take to bring us to this point?

As we recognize Missouri’s anniversary on Tuesday with events at R. W. Huntington Municipal Swimming Pool, Margaret Harwell Art Museum, Rodgers Theatre, the Poplar Bluff History Museum, the Poplar Bluff Historic Train Depot and Poplar Bluff Municipal Library, we want to take a moment to thank everyone for the ‘what ifs’ that gave us this opportunity to celebrate.

— The Daily American Republic