Saint Joseph, cities, United States

Saint Joseph sānt jōˈzəf [key]. 1 City (1990 pop. 9,214), seat of Berrien co., SW Mich., a port on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the St. Joseph River across from Benton Harbor; inc. 1834. Located in a fruit-growing region, it is a resort with beaches and mineral springs. Auto parts, machinery, and swimming pools are produced. Native American villages, a Jesuit mission, Fort Miami (1679), and a fur-trading post occupied the site before permanent American settlement began c.1830. A campus of Western Michigan Univ. is there.

2 City (1990 pop. 71,852), seat of Buchanan co., NW Mo., on the Missouri River; inc. 1845. It is the trade center of a rich agricultural and farming area. The city is a large market for livestock and grain, and has meatpacking and food- and leather-processing plants. Among its manufactures are electrical products, machinery, chemicals, clothing, and pet food. The city was laid out c.1843 on the site of a trading post founded (1826) by Joseph Robidoux. In 1860, St. Joseph became the eastern terminus of the pony express. The city was also an early, important railroad center until bypassed by the transcontinental railroad. Of interest are the pony-express stables (now a museum), the poet Eugene Field's home, and the city museum with noted Native American relics. Missouri Western State Univ. is there.

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