St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Buchanan, Andrew, and DeKalb counties in Missouri and Doniphan County, Kansas. As of the 2020 census, St. Joseph had a sum population of 72,473, making it the eighth largest city in the state, and the third largest in Northwest Missouri. St. Joseph is located in this area thirty miles north of the Kansas City, Missouri city limits and nearly 125 miles (201 km) south of Omaha, Nebraska.

The city was named after the town’s founder Joseph Robidoux and the biblical Saint Joseph. St. Joseph is home to Missouri Western State University. It is the birthplace of rapper and songwriter Eminem, who grew going on in and has made his career in Detroit, Michigan. In the nineteenth century, it was the death place of American outlaw Jesse James. It was in addition to the starting dwindling of the Pony Express serving the West.

St. Joseph was founded upon the Missouri River by Joseph Robidoux, a local fur trader of French Canadian descent. It was officially incorporated in 1843. In its upfront days, it was a thriving outpost and severe frontier town, serving as a last supply point and jumping-off dwindling for travelers upon the Missouri River toward the “Wild West”. It was the westernmost point in the United States accessible by rail until after the American Civil War.

The main east–west downtown streets were named for Robidoux’s eight children: Faraon, Jules, Francois (Francis), Felix, Edmond, Charles, Sylvanie, and Messanie. The street amid Sylvanie and Messanie was named for his second wife, Angelique.