History · St. Joseph

St. Joseph’s post office opened in 1843, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #7 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it

58 places in town are on the National Register, among them the John Patee House, a National Historic Landmark, and ten historic districts with 1,289 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1924 on, and the census since 1860.

1843first post office

58on the National Register

28%homes built before 1940

4old photos & papers

57famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From St. Joseph’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How St. Joseph began

When was St. Joseph founded?

1843

The St. Joseph post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Saxton (1872) and Inza (1902), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 8,932 in 18602020 census: 72,473183 years

How historic is St. Joseph?

A⁺

More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first St. Joseph post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives St. Joseph’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Joseph is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #7 of 247 in Missouri. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.

A⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. Joseph’s overall grade.

Founding era1843, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194027.5% of homes (±1.5) · typical MO town 8.4% · U.S. 8.4%A⁻National Register58 listings, 1,373 historic buildings, 193 per 10,000 residents · typical MO town 2.4 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 96%

NewerOlder

Missouri towns of 2,500+ (247)Ahead of 98%

Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so St. Joseph’s 193 sits above most of its state (95% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 1,373 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about St. Joseph’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark58 places on the National Register, including John Patee House, a National Historic Landmark.A historic districtThe Harris Addition Historic District takes in 311 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s St. Joseph, and 4 old place names are still on the map.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

58 listings protect 1,373 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

National Historic Landmark

John Patee House

historic buildings protected

1,373

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

John Patee House

BuildingsDistrictsSites★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Italianate17

Queen Anne11

Colonial Revival8

Classical Revival7

Greek Revival7

Craftsman6

Buchanan County Courthouse and JailRenaissance Revival

Maple GroveClassical Revival

Missouri Valley Trust Company Historic DistrictRenaissance Revival

Wholesale RowHigh Victorian

Buchanan County CourthouseBuilding

German-American Bank BuildingRichardsonian Romanesque

Hall Street Historic DistrictItalianate

Missouri Theater and Missouri Theater BuildingBuilding

All 59 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start St. Joseph’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Joseph’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewSt. Joseph (Missouri) (SAAM-1966.48.40): stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How St. Joseph came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Joseph.

Read it all →

St. Joseph was founded on the Missouri River by Joseph Robidoux, a local fur trader of French Canadian descent. It was officially incorporated in 1843. In its early days, it was a bustling outpost and rough frontier town, serving as a last supply point and jumping-off point for travelers on the Missouri River toward the "Wild West". It was the westernmost point in the United States accessible by rail until after the American Civil War, which helped earn it the designation "Gateway to the West."

The main east–west downtown streets were named for Robidoux's eight children: Faraon, Jules, Francois (Francis), Felix, Edmond, Charles, Sylvanie, and Messanie. The street between Sylvanie and Messanie was named for his second wife, Angelique.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about St. Joseph, 1881–1900

Passages that mention St. Joseph, cut from the printed page as they were published.

This great thoroughfare, the first line built from St. Joseph westward, through Kansas and Nebraska, was chartered by the Territorial Legislature of Kansas, February 17, 1857, during the sessioh of 1856-57, under the name and style of "Marysville or Palmetto and Roseport Railroad Company." The firs… — **The History of Buchanan County, Missouri**1881 · page 578Read the page →
Read the text
This great thoroughfare, the first line built from St. Joseph westward, through Kansas and Nebraska, was chartered by the Territorial Legislature of Kansas, February 17, 1857, during the sessioh of 1856-57, under the name and style of "Marysville or Palmetto and Roseport Railroad Company." The first meeting of the incorporators of this road was held in the City of St. Joseph, February 26, 1857. On motion of ■Captain Fred W. Smith, Colonel A. M. Mitchell was called to the chair and B. H. Matthews appointed secretary pro tern. On motion, five
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**The daily news' history of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Mo.**1900 · page 69Read the page →
Read the text
Faucett was platted when the Chicago Great Western railroad extended its line, in 1890, from St. Joseph to Kansas City, and named in honor of Robert Faucett, the miller. There is a population of about 200, a school, depot, two general stores, a church, school and a large grain elevator.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and constructed all the depot buildings on the line, including the depot at Washington, District Columbia, Camden depot at Baltimore, and also the first iron bridge on the road. In 1856 he came West and took up his abode in St. Joseph, and has been actively e… — **The History of Buchanan County, Missouri**1881 · page 824Read the page →
Read the text
employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and constructed all the depot buildings on the line, including the depot at Washington, District Columbia, Camden depot at Baltimore, and also the first iron bridge on the road. In 1856 he came West and took up his abode in St. Joseph, and has been actively engaged at his trade since. Among the first buildings he worked on in the city were the Patee and Pacific Houses. Mr.
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. Joseph, 1843 to 1972

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1843Post officeThe Saint Joseph post office opens
1855In the archiveSt. Joseph (Missouri) (SAAM-1966.48.40)
1858BuiltJohn Patee House is built
1862In the archiveLe Tour du monde-05-p380
1872Post officeThe Saxton post office opens
1883BuiltMiller-Porter-Lacy House is built
1888BuiltKelley and Browne Flats is built
1888BuiltVirginia Flats is built
20th century
1900CensusPopulation peaks at 102,979
1902Post officeThe Inza post office opens
1904Born hereColeman Hawkins is born here
1915Post officeThe Inza post office closes
1916Born hereWalter Cronkite is born here
1917Born hereJane Wyman is born here
1924On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1938Post officeThe Saxton post office closes
1961LandmarkJohn Patee House named a National Historic Landmark
1972Born hereEminem is born here

By decade

St. Joseph, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1860s4 items

c. 1855St. Joseph (Missouri) (SAAM-1966.48.40)

1859Meyers Universum Band 20 37

1862Le Tour du monde-05-p380

1862Le Tour du monde-05-p381

On the map

St. Joseph on the map, 1924 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Joseph. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1924St Joseph sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Joseph.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewSt. Joseph (Missouri) (SAAM-1966.48.40), c. 1855

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on St. Joseph’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

St. Joseph, census by census

Peaked at 102,979 in 1900; 72,473 people lived here in 2020.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Joseph’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

57 famous people were born in St. Joseph

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

EminemAmerican rapper, record producer and actor · b. 1972

Jane WymanAmerican actress · b. 1917

Walter CronkiteAmerican broadcast journalist · b. 1916

Coleman HawkinsAmerican jazz saxophonist · b. 1904

Jim WebbAmerican politician, military officer and author · b. 1946

Betty GarrettAmerican actress, comedian, singer, and dancer · b. 1919

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saint Joseph

1843–today

Saxton

1872–1938

Inza

1902–1915

18401930today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AshtonKirschnerSaint JosephSaxton

Gone or out of use

Green Valley SchoolschoolKirscher SchoolschoolOak Grove SchoolschoolRiverview SchoolschoolSouth Parklocale

7cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Joseph

AshlandMemorial ParkMount AuburnMount MoraMount OlivetNelsonNew King Hill

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about St. Joseph’s history

What year was St. Joseph founded?

The St. Joseph post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does St. Joseph rank for history?

St. Joseph is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #7 of 247 in Missouri. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in St. Joseph?

58 listings: 41 buildings, among them the John Patee House (a National Historic Landmark since 1961), 17 historic districts with 1,289 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 1,373 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in St. Joseph?

28% of St. Joseph’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1962.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (59), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.

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