The story
Read it all →How St. Joe came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Joe.
Saint Joe was laid out in 1875, and incorporated as a town in 1899. The town derives its name from the St. Joseph River.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · St. Joe
St. Joe’s post office opened in 1906, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: old-book passages.
1906first post office
0on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How St. Joe began
When was St. Joe founded?
1906
The St. Joe post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Saint Joe Station (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 418120 years
Founding year: the first St. Joe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about St. Joe’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start St. Joe’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Joe’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about St. Joe, 1885–1914
Passages that mention St. Joe, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families1914 · page 354Read the page →
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and sagacity characteristic of him, saw the possibility of a thriving town between Hicksville and Auburn, and, with this in view, he and his father bought what was then known as the Blair farm, on which they platted and laid out what is now the town of St. Joe. Three years later Mr. Leighty engaged in the mercantile business in the new town, having associated himself in business with M. T. Bishop. About seven years later Mr. Leighty bought his partner's interest in the business, which he thereafter conducted alone until about 1894, when he disposed of his business to W. C. and C. A.Pat-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families1914 · page 240Read the page →
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Butler to Logansport, passing through the city of Auburn, running from northeast to southwest through the county. The Baltimore & Ohio, built through the southern tier of townships, which caused the building of the town of St. Joe on the east in Concord township, and the village of Concord, Auburn Junction, and the city of Garrett, where are located the division and shops of the Baltimore & Ohio. The Wabash enters the county in Troy township, near the village of Artie, passing through the cities of Butler, St.
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History of DeKalb County, Indiana1885Read the page →
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St. Joe is a station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Though a small place, it has come to be an important business center, and one of the best grain shipping points in the county. Its
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
St. Joe, 1886 to 1906
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1886Post officeThe Saint Joe Station post office opens
- 20th century
- 1906Post officeThe Saint Joe Station post office closes
- 1906Post officeThe Saint Joe post office opens
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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Add from your albumFamous people
See all →Famous people close to St. Joe
Nobody well known was born in St. Joe itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Saint Joe Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Saint Joe Station
Saint Joe
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Joe
1cemetery inside St. Joe
Riverside
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about St. Joe’s history
What year was St. Joe founded?
The St. Joe post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.