St. Joseph, founded in 1835 and gone by 1844, played a lasting role in Florida history as the site of the territory’s first Constitutional Convention. From December 3, 1838, to January 11, 1839, delegates met there to draft Florida’s initial constitution amid disputes among East, Middle, and West Florida over whether the territory was ready for statehood. Although later conventions were held elsewhere before Florida entered the Union in 1845, St. Joseph remained the place where that process began. The site now preserves the memory of the lost town and interprets the debates, people, and everyday life connected to Florida’s early path toward statehood.