St. Joseph, Missouri was founded by fur trader Joseph Robidoux who lived between 1783 and 1868. The Northwest Missouri location where Joseph Robidoux established his Blacksnake Hills trading post is today St. Joseph, Missouri, with a population of about 75,000.
Years before founding one of the ten largest cities in the state of Missouri, Robidoux grew up across the state in St. Louis, Missouri, where he had six siblings. From an early age, his father taught Joseph and his brothers the family business of the fur trade, who in the 18th century began sending Joseph up and down the Missouri River as a teenager to hone his craft.
In what is now the city of Chicago, Joseph Robidoux established a fur trading post next to Fort Dearborn, Illinois, but ironically his success led to his demise. Legend has it that Joseph was such a competent young businessman that the more established elders who practiced his trade did not think too highly of a young newcomer entering their territory and disrupting their established business. To correct the disruption that Joseph caused, the locals of Fort Dearborn persuaded the local Indians to threaten and harass Joseph until they literally kicked him out of town.
After leaving Illinois, Joseph settled in present-day Omaha, Nebraska and settled with his second wife (after the death of his first wife Eugenie in 1805) with a wedding in 1813 to Angelique Vaudry. Between his two marriages, José had eight children (two from the first marriage and six from the second) and today the names of many of those children adorn some of the most used streets in the city of St. Joseph, Missouri, which he eventually founded. . His children’s names that have since been immortalized with streets named in his honor include Messanie, Faraon, Francis, Felix, and Edmond. While those names probably seem a bit outdated to most people in the 21st century, anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in St. Joseph, Missouri instantly recognizes those names as some of the busiest streets in the city. .
Joseph Robidoux sold his successful Nebraska fur trading business in 1822 to the American Fur Company and decided to leave the area after being motivated by the American Fur Company with an annual payment of $ 1,000 for complying with a non-compete agreement.
After spending time in St. Louis after selling his business to the American Fur Company, Robidoux was hired by the American Fur Company to start a Blacksnake Hills trading post in northwestern Missouri near Kansas City and in doing so, Joseph Robidoux laid the foundation for the city of St. Joseph, Missouri, which has held its namesake for more than 150 years.