St. Joseph

History

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. St. Joseph, or "St. Joe", as it was called by many, was a "Jumping-Off Point" for those migrants headed to the Oregon Territory in the mid-1800s. Such cities, including Independence, and St. Joseph, were where pioneers would stay and purchase supplies before they headed out in wagon trains across the Great Plains. The town was a very lively place. Between April 3, 1860, and late October 1861, St. Joseph was one of the two endpoints of the Pony Express, which operated for a short period over the land then inaccessible by rail, to provide fast mail service. Today the Pony Express Museum hosts visitors in the former stables of the company. St. Joseph is identified by the slogan, "Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended." The town's main hotel was Patee House. In the post-Civil War years, when the economy was down, the hotel was used for a time by the Patee Female College. It was occupied by the St. Joseph Female College up to 1880. In 1874 the State Lunatic Asylum #2 was opened just East of St. Joseph. The asylum, originally…

Geography

Saint Joseph is located on the Missouri/Kansas border in northwestern Missouri, also close to Nebraska; Iowa is another farther north. The nearest major metropolitan area to St. Joseph is the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, which begins approximately to the south. The nearest major airport is Kansas City International Airport, which is approximately to the south. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Several water bodies and streams are located in St. Joseph besides the Missouri River. Roys Branch sources just northwest of Krug Park and travels southwest and enters the Missouri River next to Remington Nature Center. Whitehead Creek headwaters southeast of St. Joseph and flows northwest into the Missouri River just southwest of downtown. Corby Pond, a public lake in Corby Park, is a popular fishing location. Lake Contrary is located just southwest of St. Joseph and has a beach. Under the Köppen climate classification, St. Joseph has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) bordering on a humid continental climate (Dfa), although under United States isotherms of the station is firmly continental. The monthly weather averages listed below are taken from National Weather Service 1981–2010 normals recorded at Rosecrans Airport. Because of the airport's location near the Missouri River and at a low elevation, official overnight lows during wintertime especially are often several degrees colder than at other places within the city. Snowfall is not recorded at the St. Joseph weather station although surrounding reporting stations typically receive of snowfall annually.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,017
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,317
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,129
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,117
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  2,111
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,992
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,962
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,774

Largest nearby schools

• CENTRAL HIGH
  High · ST JOSEPH · 1,728 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• OAK GROVE ELEM
  Elementary · St. Joseph · 842 students · 15.6:1 ratio
• LAFAYETTE HIGH
  High · ST JOSEPH · 717 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• BENTON HIGH
  High · ST JOSEPH · 676 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• CARDEN PARK ELEM
  Elementary · St. Joseph · 577 students · 14.8:1 ratio
• BODE MIDDLE
  Middle · ST JOSEPH · 486 students · 16.2:1 ratio
• LINDBERGH ELEM.
  Elementary · ST JOSEPH · 484 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• TRUMAN MIDDLE
  Middle · ST JOSEPH · 482 students · 14.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.5 — 2024-03-15
  2 km NE of Ferrelview, Missouri
• M 2.6 — 2018-07-20
  1 km WNW of Saint Joseph, Missouri
• M 3.1 — 2007-03-23
  5 km N of Nortonville, Kansas