Editing St. Joseph, Missouri (section)

==History==
[[File:St Joseph Missouri Francis.jpg|thumb|right|The intersection of Francis and North 4th streets in downtown St. Joseph]]
[[File:Robidoux-row.jpg|thumb|[[Robidoux Row]], St. Joseph, Missouri]]
[[File:St Joseph Missouri River.jpg|thumb|The [[Missouri River]] in St. Joseph]]
St. Joseph was founded on the Missouri River by [[Joseph Robidoux IV|Joseph Robidoux]], a local [[fur trader]] of French Canadian descent. It was officially incorporated in 1843.<ref name="travel">{{Cite web|url=http://north-america.traveltoworld.com/north-america-travel-guide/5317/saint-peters-missouri/|title=Saint Peters : Missouri|access-date=August 30, 2007|publisher=North America Travel Guide|author=North America Travel Guide|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006123625/http://north-america.traveltoworld.com/north-america-travel-guide/5317/saint-peters-missouri/|archive-date=October 6, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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 [[American Old West|"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."<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Joseph Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=79274 |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}</ref>

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, Missouri|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.<ref>[http://www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/history/jameshome.cfm St. Joseph History - Jesse James Home] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060426092645/http://www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/history/jameshome.cfm |date=April 26, 2006}}.</ref>

In 1874 the State Lunatic Asylum #2<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tourist Attraction {{!}} St. Joseph Museums {{!}} United States |url=https://www.stjosephmuseum.org/glore-psychiatric-museum |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=St. Joseph Museums |language=en}}</ref> was opened just East of St. Joseph. The asylum, originally built for 250 patients opened its doors with more than 300. The asylum was mostly self-sustaining with three large farms, power plant, fire department, metal shops, wood shops, dairy and more, all worked by the patients. Over the decades the asylum grew rapidly, reaching its peak of close to 3,000 patients by the 1940s. In 1968 occupational therapist George Glore with the help of his patients, recreated several historic treatment devices for Mental Health Awareness Month. This was the start of the Glore Psychiatric Museum. Now the largest museum of its kind in the world, the museum shows the history mental health treatment and still houses the original exhibits created by George Glore and his patients.

Outlaw [[Jesse James]] lived here under the alias "Mr. Howard". The song, "[[Jesse James (folk song)|Jesse James]]", includes the lines, "...that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard has laid poor Jesse in his grave."<ref name=william>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/jessejameswashis0000sett|url-access=registration|title=Jesse James Was His Name: Or, Fact and Fiction Concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri|first=William A.|last=Settle|date=November 25, 1977|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=9780803258600|access-date=November 25, 2017|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> On April 3, 1882, James was killed at his home, originally located at 1318 Lafayette. It has been relocated next to the Patee House and still has the visible bullet hole from the fatal shot. It is now operated as the [[Jesse James Home Museum]].

The Heaton-Bowman-Smith Funeral Home maintains a small museum about Jesse James. Their predecessors conducted his funeral.

St. Joseph was the second city in the US to install electric streetcars; regular service was initiated on July 4, 1888.<ref>St. Joseph News-Press, June 28, 1992, p. 58 by Gary Chilcote</ref> Among properties listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] are [[Robidoux Row]], buildings owned by the founder and used for his family trading and mercantile business; the Patee House, now serving as a museum displaying St. Joseph's history, and the [[Missouri Theater and Missouri Theater Building|Missouri Theatre]], an ornate movie palace. The [[Walnut Park Farm Historic District]] near St. Joseph was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1999.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

St. Joseph's population peaked in 1900, with a census population of 102,979. This population figure is questionable, as civic leaders were known to have tried to raise the numbers for that census.<ref name="bigcensus">{{cite web |last=Slater |first=Bob |title=Guest Column: Civic Pride Ran Amok With 1900 Census |url=https://www.newspressnow.com/news/guest-column-civic-pride-ran-amok-with-1900-census/article_76ae8aa7-293a-54ec-a865-7c79a409a3d3.html |website=News-Press Now |date=February 28, 2010 |publisher=NPG Newspapers |access-date=September 6, 2021}}</ref> At the time, Saint Joseph was home to one of the largest wholesale companies in the Midwest, the [[Nave & McCord Mercantile Company]], as well as the [[Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad]], and the C.D. Smith & Company. C.D. Smith later became C.D. Smith Healthcare.

Prior to 1954 and desegregation, Bartlett High School served St. Joseph's African American students. It became Horace Mann Elementary with desegregation.<ref name="x798">{{cite web | last=Weston | first=Alonzo | title=Bartlett High's last reunion | website=News-Press NOW | date=2023-10-06 | url=https://www.newspressnow.com/opinion/street_smarts/bartlett-highs-last-reunion/article_303002fb-bd37-5db7-90d3-061341cade1f.html | access-date=2024-07-18}}</ref> St. Joseph's African American community leaders and [[Nathaniel C. Bruce]] were involved in and supported the establishment of [[Bartlett Agricultural and Industrial School]] in [[Dalton, Missouri]]. It was modeled after [[Tuskegee Institute]] and [[Hampton Institute]].