Early settlers of the town came to Western Missouri by riverboat from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

His first choice for a town name, "Excelsior," was rejected because it already existed in Atchison County, Missouri.

The story goes that the annoyed Thomson wrote to the Postmaster General himself to complain saying, among other things, "We don't care what name you give us so long as it is sort of 'peculiar'."

[6] In an alternate version, according to Missouri folklorist Margot Ford McMillen, early settlers were searching for a location to farm.

The land was purchased and eventually a village sprang up on it, which was named "Peculiar".

[7] Peculiar incorporated as a village in the 1890s and became a fourth class city of the state of Missouri in 1953.

The town council, called the Board of Aldermen, is composed of six members.

One alderman is elected each year for each ward to serve a two-year term.

[9] Peculiar is located adjacent to U.S. Route 71 and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

Public education in Peculiar is administered by Raymore-Peculiar R-II School District.

[15] In 2022, folksinger Willi Carlisle created an album titled Peculiar, Missouri;[16] referencing the town of Peculiar, with one song mentioning a local Walmart and its "hideous halogen bulbs" in the general area of the same name.