Fun Facts About St. Joseph

With a rich history, St. Joseph is full of interesting surprises...and here are just a few.
You’re sure to discover even more when you’re here.

• St. Joseph is where the Pony Express began and Jesse James was killed on the very same date, April 3, exactly 22 years apart.
• In 1889, Aunt Jemima pancake flour, invented in St. Joseph, was the first self-rising flour for pancakes and the first ready-mix food ever to be introduced commercially.
• Long-time CBS-TV News anchorman Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph in November 1916.
• The St. Joseph Parkway is a green belt that runs 26 miles through the heart of the city. Built in 1918, it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• French trapper Joseph Robidoux, who named the community after his patron saint, founded St. Joseph in 1826.
• In 1887, St. Joseph became the second city in the U.S. - Richmond, Virginia, was the first - to have Electric Streetcars.
• Portions of the Academy Award-winning 1973 movie Paper Moon was filmed in front of the now preserved Missouri Valley Trust Building, as well as various other locations in downtown St. Joseph.
• Movie stars Jane Wyman and Ruth Warrick, musician Eminimen, and jazz musician Coleman Hawkins are from St. Joseph.