Historic Map - Saint Joseph, MO - 1868

Bird's eye view of the city of Saint Joseph, Missouri, 1868. Drawn by A. Ruger.

Reproduction map of the community known as St. Joseph, MO, drawn by Albert Ruger. St. Joseph was founded by local fur trader Joseph Robidoux, on the Missouri/Kansas border in 1826. Main streets in downtown were named for his children: Faraon, Jules, Francis, Felix, Edmond, Charles, Sylvanie, and Messanie. St. Joseph had great access to the Missouri River, and quickly became a major outpost to the trails out west.

A rough and tumble frontier town, its streets were lined with hundreds of wagon trains waiting to be ferried across the river. In 1858, John Patee opened a luxurious four-story brick hotel. By 1860, it became the headquarters for the Pony Express, and a resting place for company riders. During the Civil War, the Union army took over the hotel, and Patee, a supporter of the Confederacy, decided to sell the hotel in a nation-wide lottery. At the end of the war, 100 tickets came back unsold, so Patee bought them himself and won his hotel back. From 1865-1868, the building became the Patee Female College. In 1869, it became a hotel again. Later, in 1882, Jesse James would be shot and killed in his home here, and in 1886, the Chicago Times would report that "St. Joseph is a modern wonder--a city of 60,000 inhabitants, eleven railroads, 70 passenger trains each day, 170 factories, thirteen miles of the best paved streets, the largest stockyards west of Chicago, a wholesale trade as large as that of Kansas City and Omaha combined..."

The map features clearly labeled street names with lively scenes of railroad, riverboat, carriage and pedestrian traffic. It features inset illustrations of Patee Female College, Odd Fellows Hall, Engine House and German School. Complete reference list below.

Features numbered references to the following locations:

1. Court House
2. Jail
3. City Hall
4. Market House
5. Public School
6. German School
7. Gas Works
8. Turn Hall
9. St. Joseph College
10. Female Seminary
11. Engine House
12. Railroad Depot
13. Cemetary
14. Patee College
15. Baptist Church
16. Catholic Church
17. Episcopal Church
18. Jewish Church
19. Lutheran Church
20. Methodist Church
21. Methodist South Church
22. German Methodist Church
23. 6th St. Presbyterian Church
24. First Presbyterian Church
25. Westminster Church
26. Colored Methodist Church