Photos & Video

The town of Old Greenville is being celebrated Sept. 21 and 22 with food, fun and family-friendle activities at the Old Greenville Recreation Area. Events are being held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Activities are organized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The 33rd annual Truman Day Rally was held Saturday at the Holiday Inn ballroom.

Legendary Poplar Bluff High School alumnus, Eddie Moss, will celebrate his 70th birthday on Sept. 27. This week's throwback takes a look back at his accomplished sports history. Moss was a key member of the 1965 and 1966 Mules football conference champion teams. As a junior and senior, he was selected to the All-Conference team at three positions. Moss led the Mules basketball team in rebounding during the 1967 season and played Junior College football at Centerville in Iowa. He was a two-year starter at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau winning All MIAA (now OVC) honors both years. Moss was then drafted by NFL team, the Buffalo Bills and later played the position of running back with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Redskins. He is a member of the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Nearly 300 people participated in the annual WOODS (Wappapello Outdoor Opportunities for Disabled Sportsmen) event Saturday at the Redman Creek Recreation Area at Wappapello Lake.

Three Rivers College hosted its annual Art on the Run event Saturday morning.

A large crowd gathered on the grounds of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and school in Poplar Bluff Saturday for its annual parish and community picnic.

The American Legion Post 153 celebrated 100 years of service on Saturday, Sept. 14, with an event open to the public. There was informational booths for veterans along with raffle tickets, food, and games for kids. The event was geared toward getting younger veterans interested in the organization.

The second annual SEMOcon returned to Poplar Bluff this weekend with 120 booths of vendors offering toys, hand crafts, jewelry, Legos, comic books and much more. The event also includes gaming and a variety of events. The con will be open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Black River Coliseum.

A Cater County deputy wounded in the line of duty returned to Ellsinore and was greeted by East Carter students Friday afternoon.

Reprinted from the Daily American Republic Sunday, January 10, 1999 edition. James Wooten's eagerness to serve his country when he was a teenager allowed him to live a life of luxury in his retirement years. Wooten, of Poplar Bluff, was one of the last Civil War veterans living in the county when he died in March 1942 at the age of 94. Three of his granddaughters, Geraldine Carpenter, Alma Gulledge and Mary Temple, all of Poplar Bluff, have made sure Wooten will be remembered for eons. They have added his name to the then newly erected Veterans Memorial Wall in front of the Black River Coliseum. According to his discharge papers on record in the courthouse. Wooten served as a private in Company C of the 51st Regiment of the Missouri Infantry Volunteers "to serve one year or during the war" and was discharged Aug. 18, 1865, with "no objection to his being re-enlsted is known to exist. Said James A. Wooten was born in Perry Co. in the State of Illinois, is 18 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches high dark complexion, hazel eyes, black hair and by occupation, when enrolled, a farmer." According to a newspaper story about him on his 93rd birthday, Wooten served under Gen. John Logan.

The FCC Behavioral Health organization is working to raise awareness of suicide and suicide prevention during September, which is suicide awareness month. Today they and other community members such as Poplar Bluff Police Department, Butler County EMS and Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center are standing at the intersection of W. Pine Street and N. Westwood Blvd with signs. They are not taking donations. There will also be an event at 6 tonight at the Excel Center that will include three speakers sharing their experiences with suicide and a balloon release. There will also be free food.

The Three Rivers Shrine Club hosted its 12th annual championship rodeo Friday and Saturday night at the Black River Coliseum. Here's a look at the action from Saturday night.

From the September 8, 1997 edition of the Daily American Republic This week's throwback looks back on a story highlighting the R & R Rodeo Company out of Ellsinore. Harve and Donna Reynolds, along with their children, Monty and Amanda once leased roping and bucking stock to the southeast Missouri area community, high school and 4-H rodeos. The stock company was formed in 1986, a year after Harve Reynolds retired from the professional rodeo circuit.

Until February 1973, Piedmont's greatest claim to fame was its location near Clearwater Lake. All that changed Feb. 21, 1973 when Reggie Bone and a group of basketball players sighted a silent craft hovering in a field while returning from a basketball tournament in Dexter. That sighting touched off a flurry of world wide media attention for several weeks in 1973, making Piedmont "UFO Headquarters."

Download these schedules for your phone or fridge for free.

73rd Annual Puxico Homecoming

The Poplar Bluff Mules football team held a scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019, at Mules Stadium. The season opens Aug. 30 at home against MICDS.

The 1989 student body of Poplar Bluff High School saw some radical policy changes take place that year. According to an article in the Daily American Republic from Wednesday, June 7, 1989, during a summer meeting, the R-I board okayed a student non-smoking policy to take effect in the fall for the 1989-90 school year. The article further notes "The group discussed for some time whether to go on allowing students to smoke, to ban student smoking all together or to phase it out…letting the students know that their smoking days at school are numbered." R-I also made the decision to "close" its campus in 1989. Students were no longer free to leave school property during their lunch hours as was previously allowed. A few pages from the 1989 "The Bluff" yearbook make up this week's Throwback Thursday gallery.

Students returned to classes on Thursday for the Twin Rivers School District R-IV.

An accident on Highway 67 South around 9 a.m. Tuesday put two vehicles in the ditch and resulted in at least person being transported by ambulance with injuries. The accident occurred in the southbound section of the road, near County Road 338. A white panel van and a pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer with an excavator on it appeared to be involved, according to witnesses. Information will be updated as it becomes available.

An early-morning fire Tuesday in an unoccupied house along Barron Road in Poplar Bluff resulted in extensive damage to the building.

DAR/Michael Shine Poplar Bluff Police and firefighters responded to a report of a vehicle colliding with a house on the 1300 block of Tremont St. on Monday at about 5:30 p.m. The responding Poplar Bluff police officer said the driver of the vehicle was transported to the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center by ambulance. The incident is being investigated as a motor vehicle accident, he said. The Municipal Utility department responded as well in order to turn off the power to the house before Casey's Towing and Recovery could remove the truck from the house.

On Saturday, the 3rd Annual Autism Awareness and Acceptance Event was held at the Elks Lodge. The event, hosted by Autism Awareness Inc., included games for kids to play and served as a fundraiser for Autism Awareness Inc.

In November 1968, late Poplar Bluff resident, Linc Hinrichs, set out from Clearwater Dam on the Black River carrying over 2,000 pecans and a few hundred walnuts on the day of his 73rd birthday. Linc was determined to return the river banks' depleted natural habitat back to its original state. Armed with a bright red knapsack and a nail apron, he floated the river planting seeds in places that were likely to be around for a long time. Linc honored teachers, old friends and fishing companions by planting trees in their names. Before he finished planting in 1972, he had sowed seeds along the Current River beach in Arkansas from Clearwater Dam to six miles below Corning, Ark. and sowed from Silva, Mo. to Fisk, Mo. while floating the St. Francis. Poplar Bluff's version of "Johnny Appleseed" spent four years repopulating the area's river bank trees.

Seems as if Poplar Bluffians in 1929 snubbed their noses at the raucous all night parties New York City was known for in the "Roaring Twenties." According to this article from the May 9, 1929 Poplar Bluff Weekly Republican newspaper the town's citizens "retained a normalcy New York is striving for." Townsfolk at the time were scarcely aware of the looming national crisis soon to engulf the nation's banks and stock market later that year. Worries far greater than partying would be in the forefront of most Poplar Bluffians' minds. The stock market crash in October 1929 accelerated the global economic collapse leading up to the Great Depression. By 1933, nearly half of America’s banks had failed and unemployment affected roughly 30% of America's population.

The 1960s and 1970s saw NASA send nine space missions to the moon. During those decades astronauts from six of those missions landed safely on the moon's surface. The United States' Apollo 11 was the first manned lunar mission to land on the moon. The date was July 20, 1969. Following are images of front page coverage on the moon mission from the Daily American Republic newspaper in July 1969.

The following article is reprinted from the Thursday, May 29, 1929 edition of the The Poplar Bluff Republican. Final touches were placed on the new court house building yesterday and today with erection of the two electric light standards at the sides of each of the four entrances. These beautiful granite standards were placed in position and wired by the City Light Plant force and the two Main street side lights were turned on last night. They are very beautiful and lend attraction to the fine building. County Highway Engineer Scarborough, who has been in charge of work of removing surplus dirt from the court yard, has succeeded in taking most of the surplus off with only $200 which was made available by the Chamber of Commerce and county court each subscribing $100. Before he started this job, contractors estimated the cost of improving the yard would be around $4,500. It is believed that with $1,000 to spend, the yard could be completed, sodded and flowers planted at different places. With the lights erected at front doors, and the yard smoothed off in the manner that Scarborough has directed, the county courts building is much more attractive.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hosted Waterfest on Saturday at Redman Creek Recreation Area at Wappapello Lake with water balloon and sand sculpture contests, intertube races and cardboard boat races.

Poplar Bluff, Missouri is known as an All-American City. Faith, family and patriotism are the foundations of this great community. Citizens enjoy coming together each year to celebrate our nation's birthday with a parade and fireworks. They also gather gratefully in honor of the men and women of the U.S. Armed Services.

From the Daily American Republic archives Monday, July 14, 1997. A look back at a feature story on one of our area's natural treasures...Alley Spring. EMINENCE, Mo. — Alley Spring was never successful as a mill. Its success came first as a state park and now as a popular visitor spot in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. In the early 1900s Alley Spring was the center of a busy farming community that included a grist mill, blacksmith shop, general store and saw mill. Located on the north side of Jacks Fork River, Alley Spring had seven owners in 30 years before becoming a state park in 1924, according to ONSR historians. It was one of the first six state parks in Missouri. Those visiting Alley will find a spring with an average daily flow of 81 million gallons. The mill still contains some of the original or replica equipment used during its milling days. Alley Spring is six miles west of Eminence on Highway 106.