How the Automobile Shaped Sioux City will draw on the Museum’s extensive photographic collection to revisit the role of the automobile during the 20th century. What began as a curiosity during the late-1890s and early-1900s, had become a staple of everyday life by 1920. Auto-related businesses quickly grew into an important sector of the local economy, and trucking revolutionized transportation options for established businesses and the Sioux City Stockyards. Perhaps most importantly, the physical makeup of Sioux City was permanently altered by the automobile. Hard-surfaced streets and roads became the norm, bigger and stronger bridges spanned local waterways, and the suburbs flourished at the expense of the less automobile-friendly downtown. Join Matt Anderson as he shares how Sioux City changed with the developments in transportation across the nation.
