The history of the router table is old in the sense of people mounting a router under a flat surface and using just about anything sqyare and straight for a fence. The router table is pretty new is you want to spend lots of hundreds on some of the new and VERY fancy table and fence mechanisms. You can easily spend over a grande on a new router table to which I say by a shaper.

A fine router table can be made by mounting a router to the underside of a nice flat 3/4" ply. you can make lags, it can have a small frame under it and sit on a saw horsy. it could be a hole in an old wood table or table saw extension table. It just has to be flat. A fence can be clamped to the table top with two clamps. The fence should have a cut out in it so it is around the cutter. Taller fences are good and an L shaped fence is best. you can make a fence from wood, aluminum or steel and any combo.

Take multiple and small passes. use push sticks and sacrifice blocks. Read lots on using router tables and shapers. And you can put yourself in the moulding shaping business with a router table for little or no cost.

Bill