Stuttgart was founded by Rev. Adam Bürkle, a native of Plattenhardt in Germany. He moved to the United States in 1852 and founded a settlement at Gum Pond after living in Ohio. In 1880, he opened a post office and had thus to name the village. In memory of his native home he called it Stuttgart after Stuttgart in Germany. In 1882, the railroad was opened. Stuttgart became a city in 1884, and in 1904, rice farming was first introduced in the Stuttgart area.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.2 square miles (16.0 km²), none of which is covered by water. Hard clay underlying the area's topsoil is what makes Stuttgart a good place to grow rice, which grows best in flooded fields made possible by the clay. The geography is mainly flat with no outstanding mountainous features with the exception of "WBA Mountain", a small artificial mound located west of the city.
There were 3,994 households out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.0% were married couples living together, 16.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.6% were non-families. 28.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,664, and the median income for a family was $39,126. Males had a median income of $30,860 versus $21,817 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,490. About 13.8% of families and 18.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.7% of those under age 18 and 17.3% of those age 65 or over.
The 1989 movie Rosalie Goes Shopping, directed by Percy Adlon and starring Marianne Sägebrecht, was set in Stuttgart. Additionally, the city gained a bit of attention during the sixth cycle of America's Next Top Model in the spring of 2006 when Stuttgart resident Furonda Brasfield was featured among the contestants.