About thirty miles north of the Kansas City metropolitan area lies the historic city of St. Joseph, Missouri. It is here that the life of the Pony Express began and the life of Jesse James ended. Also known more familiarly as St. Joe, to the locals, this town got its start in 1826 when Joseph Robidoux, a local fur trader, established the Blacksnake Hills Trading Post with the Indians. Before long, Robidoux developed a trading empire that stretched as far west as the Rocky Mountains. The first post office in the area was housed in Robidoux’s trading post in 1840. When the Platte Purchase made his land part of the state of Missouri in 1837, the trading post developed into a settlement that was incorporated as St. Joseph on November 20,1843.
 

Remaining relatively small, that all changed with the gold discovery in California that greatly accelerated westward migration. St. Joseph quickly became the last supply and jumping off point before the many pioneers headed towards the Wild West on the Oregon Trail.

Thousands of settlers arrived by steamboat, while hundreds of wagon trains lined the streets waiting to be ferried across the Missouri River. In 1849 alone, some have estimated that as many as 50,000 pioneers passed through St. Joseph. The city quickly became a bustling outpost and rough frontier town, as covered wagons, oxen, and supplies purchased by the emigrants established the economic basis for the city.

Additional growth came to the city in 1859 as the railroad pushed west to St. Joseph, further assuring its role as a distribution point for the west. St. Joseph remained the westernmost point in the U.S. accessible by rail until after the Civil War. Additionally, St. Joseph's proximity to the Missouri River added to its phenomenal growth.

In 1860, St. Joseph became the headquarters and launching point for the Pony Express. The first successful Pony Express run, from St. Joseph, to Sacramento, California took place on April 3, 1860, when a lone rider on a bay mare galloped from Pike's Peak Stables in SSt. Joseph/

Before the advent of the Pony Express, the railroads and telegraph lines extended no further west than St. Joseph, and mail traveled west by stagecoach and wagons, a trip that could take months, if it arrived at all. The Pony Express alleviated this problem with riders who could dramatically reduce the amount of time it took for the mail to be delivered.

The Pony Express is credited with helping to keep California in the Union by providing rapid communication between the two coasts. News of the election of Abraham Lincoln to the United States presidency in 1860 and of the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 reached California via the Pony Express.