History

Settled in 1826 as a trading post on the Missouri River by Joseph Robidoux, St. Joseph enjoys a rich and vivid history dotted with such notable characters as Jesse James and daring enterprises as the Pony Express.

Robidoux's trading post soon became a fur-trading empire stretching to the southern Rocky Mountains. The Platte Purchase joined his land to the state of Missouri in 1837. The city was incorporated in 1843 by Robidoux and named St. Joseph after his patron saint.

The city remained relatively small until the discovery of gold in California in 1848. Hotels and businesses were opened to accommodate the new families and travelers. St. Joseph served as a starting point for wagon trains filled with bold pioneers making their way west. The community’s merchants, craftsmen, saddle and harness makers, hemp growers, gunsmiths, and meat packers supplied thousands of the '49ers when gold was discovered in California. The supplies purchased by the immigrants established the economic foundation of the city.

Additional growth commenced in 1859 when the railroad reached St. Joseph assuring its role as a supply and distribution point to the entire western half of the country. St. Joseph's proximity to the Missouri River and accessibility by way of river, rail, and land, was to be the impetus for phenomenal growth throughout the 19th century.

April 3, 1860, marks the beginning of St. Joseph's most romantic adventure. It was the day the City of St. Joseph became embedded in history books when the Pony Express sent its first daring horseback rider to Sacramento, California, carrying mail to the western frontier. Although the Pony Express operated for a only 18 months, preservation of the stables and headquarters has kept the legend alive.

Principal channels of distribution were established in the 1870's with St. Joseph becoming a leading wholesale center for the building of the West. The 1880's and 1890's were the Golden Age of prosperity, whose mansions and traditions remain a part of the City.

St. Joseph is also the town where outlaw Jesse James met his demise. The small frame home where he was shot by a gang member in 1882 still stands to mark the end of the notorious bank and train robber.

Meatpacking had been active in St. Joseph from the early days. With the opening of the St. Joseph Stockyards in 1887 and the opening of several new packing houses from then through 1923, St. Joseph became an important meat packing center becoming one of the leading sources of revenue of the city and its surrounding agricultural area. As the City grew and industries were established, neighborhoods developed in close proximity to the factories, stockyards, and railroads.

The City of St. Joseph is the county seat of Buchanan County and, today, is the sixth largest city in Missouri. St. Joseph is the central service provider for a six county area of northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas with a combined population of over 150,300. The city’s population represents 48% of that total.