Poplar Bluff, the seat of Butler County, acquired its name in 1849 when the site, located on the bluffs of the Black River, was still a wilderness covered with immense poplar or tulip trees. By the beginning of the Civil War, ten families resided there. The coming of the railroad in 1872 brought in new mills and factories, along with an economic and population boom. Ox teams were commonly used to transport goods to Cape Girardeau or Ironton.

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