John T. Woodruff: progressive president of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce.
Woodruff had thousands of copies of “The Ozark Empire Magazine” distributed at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. It mentions the region’s good fishing but said its rivers could be “harnessed for power development.” The stage was set for a battle between the Chamber’s vision of modernity and the romantics and folklorists. As May Kennedy McCord (Queen of the Hillbillies) wrote “I am tired of manmade wonders.”
John Thomas Woodruff, like John Polk Campbell, Springfield’s original booster, was dedicated to growing his town by improving transportation. He is locally considered the father of Route 66. Woodruff came to Springfield as a lawyer for the Frisco Railroad, built half a dozen important buildings, and tirelessly promoted the city. Both men sought to alter the White River to make it commercially useful. Campbell pulled snags to improve it for steamboats. Woodruff lobbied successfully for high dams that would transform the free-flowing river into reservoirs.
James Fork of the White, p. 139
In 2016, Tom Peters, Dean of Library Services for Missouri State University, published “an encyclopedic biography” of the civic-minded entrepreneur. Although history has bestowed the official moniker, Father of Route 66, on Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, John T. Woodruff was one of the movers behind the designation of that highway. He was among the group of highway advocates and engineers at the Colonial Hotel in Springfield, August 30, 1926, that sent a telegram to Washington accepting the number 66 assigned to a federal highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. Because of that designation, today Springfield boasts the “birthplace” tag and annually hosts the “Birthplace of Route 66 Festival.”
Lesser known is the fact Woodruff also became the first president of the U.S. 66 Highway Association.
James Fork of the White: Transformation of an Ozark River, now on sale for $17.50 (half price) postage paid, at www.beautifulozarks.com
John T. Woodruff, An Encyclopedic Biography is available at the History Museum on the Square in Springfield, the PawPrints Bookstore in Plaster Student Union on the campus of Missouri State University, at the Rail Haven Motel in Springfield, or directly from the publisher.
