From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol.V - p 352

Poplar

Any tree of the genus Populus.

Poplar was built as a tender for the Lighthouse Service at Dubuque, Iowa and launched in 1939. Upon completion she assumed tender duties out of her permanent station at St. Louis, Mo. She serviced navigational aids along the Mississippi River in the region of St. Louis, which is ten miles below the confluence of the Missouri with the Mississippi.

Tender Poplar transferred to the Coast Guard in 1939 when the Lighthouse Service became part of that service. She remained in active status as a Coast Guard river buoy tender until 1 November 1941, when Executive Order 8929 transferred the Coast Guard to the Navy. Poplar served as a buoy tender on naval service until 1 January 1946, when she returned to the Treasury Department. She ordinarily operated out of St. Louis until 1962, when she transferred to Sewickley, on the Ohio River twelve miles WNW of Pittsburgh.

In April 1967, after 177 years with the Treasury Department, the Coast Guard transferred to the new Department of Transportation. Through 1969 Poplar has continued in active service as a 104' WLR class large river buoy tender, servicing Ohio River navigational aids out of Sewickley.