Old Saint Jo, Gateway to the West, 1799 - 1932

Old Saint Jo is the story of St. Joseph, Missouri, from 1799 - 1932, and the families who were its builders. Nestled between the hills along the Missouri River, the site had long been a gathering place for the Indians before the French fur trader and city founder, Joseph Robidoux, established his trading post. During the major Oregon/California Trail emigration years of 1849, 1850, and 1851, Saint Joseph led all other jumping-off points. The needs of those emigrants led to the establishment of outfitting and mercantile businesses, making "Old Saint Jo" the supplier of the west. In 1860, the city was also chosen as the eastern terminus for the Pony Express. This flurry of business activity was halted by the Civil War. The end of the war marked the beginning of thirty years of business expansion, with Saint Joseph playing an essentail part in the national system for distributing goods. The personal fortunes that were made through the dry goods and wholesale houses built the large buildings and stately homes of the city's "Golden Age" of the 1880s and 1890s. The monentum of those years carried the city into the first quarter of the twentieth century and beyond.