Best Web Design in St. Joseph, MO (2026)

Web Design for St. Joseph, Missouri

St. Joseph is a historic Missouri River city of about 72,000 in Buchanan County, famous as the eastern terminus where the Pony Express began in 1860 and the town where outlaw Jesse James was shot dead in 1882. Once one of the wealthiest, busiest jumping-off points to the American West, 'St. Joe' today anchors a major animal-health and meatpacking economy and preserves a remarkable set of museums.

AppWT works with St. Joseph, MO businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About St. Joseph

Also known as. St. Joe. The City Worthwhile. Gateway to the West.

History. Fur trader Joseph Robidoux IV opened the Blacksnake Hills Trading Post around 1826; the town was named for him and for the biblical Saint Joseph and incorporated in 1843. As the westernmost U.S. point reachable by rail before the Civil War, it became a key outfitting and 'jumping-off' point earning the label 'Gateway to the West.' On April 3, 1860, William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell launched the Pony Express from the Patee House, aiming to carry mail to Sacramento in about 10 days; it ran only about 18 months before the telegraph ended it in October 1861. Outlaw Jesse James, living under the alias 'Tom Howard,' was shot and killed in his St. Joseph home on April 3, 1882. St. Joseph became the second U.S. city to install electric streetcars, with regular service beginning July 4, 1888. The 1900 census recorded a peak of 102,979 residents, a number the city has never regained.

Local economy. St. Joseph is among Missouri's largest exporters and a key node in the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor. Mosaic Life Care (health system) is the largest employer, with roughly 2,900 workers. Triumph Foods operates a major pork-processing plant employing around 2,400. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (about 1,070) reflects the city's animal-health cluster, and Tyson Foods is another large employer. Historically it was a wholesale and mercantile powerhouse, home to the Nave & McCord Mercantile Company, one of the Midwest's largest wholesalers.

Culture and community. The city celebrates jazz saxophone pioneer Coleman Hawkins, a St. Joseph native, with Coleman Hawkins Park and an annual HawkFest. Museums are a cultural cornerstone, including the Pony Express Museum, Jesse James Home, Glore Psychiatric Museum, Patee House, and the Black Archives Museum. The Missouri Theater and Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art anchor the arts scene. Chase Candy Company still makes the locally invented Cherry Mash candy in the city. A 26-mile parkway system connects historic parks like Krug Park and Hyde Park.

What makes St. Joseph distinct. The city's slogan is 'Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended.' The Aunt Jemima pancake-mix brand originated in St. Joseph in 1889, when Gazette editor Chris Rutt took the name and image from a poster he saw at a local vaudeville house. Cherry Mash, created here in 1918 by Ernest Chase, is often cited as the third-oldest candy bar still made in the U.S., after the Hershey Bar and the Goo Goo Cluster. Broadcaster Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph on November 4, 1916. The Glore Psychiatric Museum is billed as one of the largest museums of its kind in the world. Downtown streets were named after Joseph Robidoux's eight children.

St. Joseph Landmarks and Local Life

• Patee House Museum - the original 1860 Pony Express headquarters and a National Historic Landmark
• Jesse James Home Museum - the house where the outlaw was killed
• Glore Psychiatric Museum - built around a former state mental hospital's artifacts
• Robidoux Row and the Buchanan County Courthouse in the historic downtown.
• Missouri Western State University - serving more than 3,800 students