Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph began in 1826 as a trading post for the American Fur Company established by Joseph Robidoux, who later acquired the site and laid out a town in 1843. It became an outfitting point for settlers in northwest Missouri and for travelers on the Oregon-California trail, and also served as a supply base for army posts and western gold mining camps. In 1859 it was the terminus of the Hannibal and St. Joseph, the first railroad to cross Missouri, and in 1862 the railway postal car developed by W. A. Davis of St. Joseph was first used on this line. On April 3, 1860, the freighting firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell began Pony Express service between Saint Joseph and Sacramento, California; operated as a relay, it provided speedy mail service to the West, popularized the central overland route, regularly covered about 1982 miles in 10 days using 190 relay stations, 420 horses, and 80 riders, and achieved a record run of 7 days, 17 hours before ending in October 1861 when the telegraph reached the coast. Saint Joseph, in the glacial plains region of the Missouri Valley, developed as an industrial center in a fertile grain, fruit, and livestock farming area. The beauty of the site impressed Maximilian, Prince of Wied, in 1833, Father De Smet in 1838, and Audubon in 1843. The city is noted for food processing plants, grain and livestock markets, transportation facilities, and varied factories, and two bridges cross the Missouri River there. It stands on land acquired from the Iowa, Sauk, and Fox Indians by the Platte Purchase in 1836, and since 1846 it has been the seat of Buchanan County, one of six counties formed out of the Purchase, organized in 1838 and named for James Buchanan, U.S. President from 1857 to 1861. Among local points of interest are St. Joseph Museum, Patee House, Pony Express Stables, the house where Jesse James was killed, the locale of Eugene Field's courtship poem "Lover's Lane, St. Jo," Beavais House, Krug Park, and, 20 miles southwest, Lewis and Clark State Park. Saint Joseph was also home to Missouri Governors R.M. Stewart, W.P. Hall, and Silas Woodson.

St. Joseph, Missouri · United States