Poplar Bluff, Missouri

AT A GLANCE POPLAR BLUFF, MISSOURI WHAT: A city of 17,000 WHERE: On the Black River in Butler County WEBSITE: www.poplarbluff-mo.gov S ituated in Southeast Missouri, midway between St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee, Poplar Bluff is a small city in Butler County. The earliest permanent settlements in the area occurred in the early 19th century along the Natchitoches Trail, an old Native American Trail, west of what is now Poplar Bluff on Ten Mile Creek and Cane Creek. Butler County was organized in 1849 and Poplar Bluff was chosen as the county seat. The city took its name from a bluff that overlooks the Black River; when first settled, the bluff was covered with tulip poplar trees. In 1855, the first courthouse was built in Poplar Bluff and the town grew. It incorporated as a city on February 9, 1870. Today, Poplar Bluff is home to about 17,000 people, and according to Steve Halter, President oplar Bluff, A proactive city MISSOURI