St. Joseph, MO History

St. Joseph, Missouri was founded by fur trader Joseph Robidoux who lived from 1783-1868. The area in northwest Missouri where Joseph Robidoux developed his Blacksnake Hills Trading Post is modern St. Joseph, Missouri with a population of about 75,000.

Years prior to establishing among the existing day ten largest cities in the state of Missouri Robidoux grew up on the other side of the state in St. Louis, Missouri where he had six bros. From an early age Joseph and his brothers were taught the family service of fur trading by their dad who in the eighteenth century began sending Joseph up and down the Missouri River as a teenager to refine his trade.

In what is presently the city of Chicago Joseph Robidoux established a fur trading post next to Fort Dearborn, Illinois however ironically his success led to his demise. As legend has it Joseph was such a competent young businessman that more recognized older men practicing his craft did not believe too kindly of having a young up and comer stepping into their area and interrupting their recognized organisation. To fix the interruption that Joseph triggered the Fort Dearborn locals convinced local Indians to threaten and disturb Joseph until he was quite literally run out of town.

After leaving Illinois Joseph developed himself in contemporary Omaha, Nebraska and settled down with his 2nd partner (after the 1805 death of his very first spouse Eugenie) with an 1813 wedding event to Angelique Vaudry. In between his 2 marriages Joseph had 8 kids (2 from the first marriage and 6 from the second) and today the names of a lot of those kids adorn some of the most commonly used streets in the city of St. Joseph, Missouri which he ultimately established. Amongst names of his kids that have given that been celebrated with streets named in their honor are Messanie, Faraon, Francis, Felix, and Edmond. While those names probably seem a bit out-of-date to most folks in the twenty-first century anybody who has actually spent a significant quantity of time around St. Joseph, Missouri quickly acknowledges those names as a few of the most high traffic streets in the area.

Joseph Robidoux offered his successful Nebraska fur trading company in 1822 to the American Fur Company and chose to leave the area after being encouraged by the American Fur Company with a $1,000 yearly payment for abiding by a non-compete agreement.

After hanging around back in St. Louis after selling his organisation to the American Fur Business Robidoux was later hired by the American Fur Company to begin a Blacksnake Hills trading post in northwest Missouri near Kansas City and in doing so Joseph Robidoux prepared for the city of St. Joseph, Missouri that has held his namesake for over 150 years.