History
A bluff of poplars on the Black River
Poplar Bluff grew up on a bluff over the Black River and became the Gateway to the Ozarks. In 1927 a tornado nearly wiped it away. This is the story of how it came back.
The Gateway to the Ozarks
Where the hills meet the lowlands
Butler County lies where the Ozark foothills drop to the flat Bootheel lowlands, and its seat sits right on the edge: Poplar Bluff takes its name from a bluff above the Black River that was covered with tulip poplars when settlers arrived. The county was carved from Wayne County in 1849, and its first court met that June 18.
Poplar Bluff, the self-styled “Gateway to the Ozarks,” is the county’s largest city by far, home to Three Rivers College and an Amtrak stop beside its historic Iron Mountain depot.
Founding and early years
A new county on the Black River
Butler County was organized on February 27, 1849, and named for William O. Butler, a Kentucky congressman and candidate for vice president. Poplar Bluff was chosen as its seat, and the first courthouse went up in 1855.
May 9, 1927
The tornado
On the afternoon of May 9, 1927, a tornado tore through Poplar Bluff and leveled most of the city, including the original business district. At least 98 people died, making it one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history; early reports gave lower counts, and one later account put the toll at 104. One account written soon after put the damage at more than $4 million.
The city rebuilt, and in 2022 the county held a ceremony to remember the storm. Tornadoes have come back since: in March 2025 a low-end EF3 struck the city’s west and northwest sides and killed one person.
Poplar Bluff
The county seat on its bluff over the Black River, hit hardest in 1927. Its North Main Street and South Sixth Street historic districts, the Rodgers Theatre, and the Moore-Dalton House are all on the National Register.
Qulin and Fisk
Small towns in the county’s eastern lowlands.
Neelyville
A town on U.S. 67 near the Arkansas line, at the county’s southern edge.
Downtown today
A theater, an art museum, and a depot
Downtown Poplar Bluff has kept its landmarks: the Rodgers Theatre, opened in 1949 as an Art Deco movie palace and now a stage; the Greek Revival Moore-Dalton House, home of the free Margaret Harwell Art Museum; and the old depot, now the Mo-Ark Regional Railroad Museum. The Black River Coliseum brings concerts and shows downtown, and each fall the Iron Horse Festival fills the streets.
Out in the lowlands, the Missouri Department of Conservation assembled Otter Slough on the Stoddard County line from 1944 to 1988, a marsh managed for migrating ducks and geese.
Keeping the history
See it for yourself
See the Art Deco Rodgers Theatre and the Moore-Dalton House on North Main Street, the railroad museum in the old depot, and the marshes of Otter Slough in duck season.
For railroad history, the Mo-Ark Regional Railroad Museum is in the old depot at 303 S. Moran Street, (573) 785-4539.
Plan a visit
Margaret Harwell Art Museum
A free art museum in the Greek Revival Moore-Dalton House on North Main Street, with changing exhibits and a sculpture garden.
- Location
- 421 N. Main Street, Poplar Bluff, MO 63901
- Phone
- (573) 686-8002
- Hours
- Weekdays noon–4 p.m., weekends 1–4 p.m.; closed Mondays and between exhibits. Call to confirm.
Verify before relying on this. Compiled from Wikipedia, the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, Missouri Life, and VisitMO. Figures for the 1927 tornado vary between sources.
