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'''Puxico''' is a city in western [[Stoddard County, Missouri|Stoddard County]], [[Missouri]]. It is the fifth-largest incorporated community in the county, with a population of 881 at the 2010 Census.
'''Puxico''' is a city in western [[Stoddard County, Missouri|Stoddard County]], [[Missouri]]. It is the fifth-largest incorporated community in the county, with a population of 881 at the 2010 Census.
==History==
Puxico is said to derive its name from a local Shawnee Indian chieftain named Pucksicah, whose tribe was prominent during the 19th century in the western part of what became Stoddard County, and who was very friendly to the arriving American settlers.<ref>https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_stoddard.html</ref>
Settlement of the area came in the early 1880s, as a railroad was extended through the area from [[Cape Girardeau, Missouri|Cape Girardeau]] to [[Poplar Bluff, Missouri|Poplar Bluff]]. The town of Puxico was laid out in 1883 and officially incorporated on June 2, 1884. Thanks to the presence of the railroad and the uncut forests nearby, the community grew rapidly; a local historian described it in 1912 as having a population of 814, a bank, a newspaper (the ''Puxico Index''), three churches, four general stores, a flour mill, a canning factory, and even an opera house.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=G-AlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA392#v=onepage&q&f=false</ref>
Economic activity in Puxico declined somewhat after the railroad ceased operations in the 1930s. Its population has also fluctuated, currently down from its 1990 and 2000 levels; however, the population of the overall region has remained steady thanks to movement to nearby [[Lake Wappapello]], and this has shored up the position of the town considerably.