St. Joseph

St. Joseph, city, seat (1846) of Buchanan county, northwestern Missouri, U.S. It is located on the Missouri River (there bridged to Elwood, Kansas), 28 miles (45 km) north of Kansas City. A trading post was established (1826) on the site by Joseph Robidoux, a French Canadian trapper from St. Louis. The Platte Purchase (1836), adding about 2,000,000 acres (800,000 hectares) of Native American land to the state territory, resulted in an influx of settlers. Robidoux laid out the town in 1843 and named it for his patron saint. During the California Gold Rush (1849), St. Joseph boomed as a steamboat base and supply depot for westward-bound wagon trains. The western terminus of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad (completed 1859), it became the eastern terminus of the Pony Express, launched from St. Joseph on April 3, 1860. During the American Civil War the city became a point for guerrilla operations and was frequented by border outlaws such as William C. Quantrill and Jesse James; the latter was killed (1882) in his home there (which has been preserved).

In the 1840s the city was well on its way to becoming an important meatpacking center but was eclipsed by Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City when transcontinental railroads bypassed it. It has survived as one of the great livestock and grain markets of the central west and is the trade center of an extensive agricultural region. Manufactures are diversified and include structural steel, chemicals, soybean products, pet foods, school and office supplies, machinery, and batteries. Tourism is of growing importance.

“Lover’s Lane, Saint Jo,” by Eugene Field, expresses the poet’s nostalgic remembrance of the St. Joseph street where he courted his wife. Patee House, a national historic landmark, comprises the reconstructed headquarters of the Pony Express office. The Pony Express Museum is housed in the original stable that was the starting point for the rides west to Sacramento, California, and the St. Joseph Museum houses a notable collection of Native American artifacts. Pigeon Hill Wildlife Area and Lewis and Clark State Park are nearby. The city is the seat of Missouri Western State University (founded 1915 as St. Joseph Junior College). Inc. 1843. Pop. (2000) 73,990; St. Joseph Metro Area, 122,336; (2010) 76,780; St. Joseph Metro Area, 127,329; (2023 est.) 70,634.