The history of Saint Joseph began almost 100 years before the American Revolution.
The mouth of the St. Joseph River was discovered and documented in 1669 and ten years later, the explorer LaSalle with more than a dozen men, cleared a piece of land that began the construction of Fort Miami on the bluff bordering the St. Joseph River.
LaSalle's stay was short-lived as the area was mostly populated by Native Americans, trappers, and soldiers and remained until 1785 when William Burnett established a trading post and became the first permanent settler.
In 1828 the area opened to commerce and St. Joseph began to grow due in large part to The Carey Mission Treaty. In 1829, New Yorker Calvin Britain made the long trek to southwest Michigan and became the area's first full-time resident.
The bustling Port of St. Joseph prospered and became the principal transportation channel for the entire region. The settlement eventually grew into a village and was originally called Newberryport in honor of a prominent, successful businessman.
Throughout the 1800's, people continued to move into the St. Joseph and the area flourished. The first settlers arrived and settled east of the river in 1834. The land they claimed proved to be fertile farmland.
This exquisite countryside still surrounds St. Joseph and is evident in the presence of the beautiful orchards ripe with apples, pears, peaches, and cherries which flow seamlessly into vineyards of grapes, fields of corn, and endless rows of strawberries and blueberries.
St. Joseph is the largest non-citrus fruit-growing region in the nation and each and every spring, since 1906, The Blossomtime Festival celebrates the beginning of the growing season.
In 1839 peach trees were introduced to the area and peach production became a major economic activity. The following year St. Joseph finally acquired a rail service through the Chicago and Michigan Lakeshore Railway.
By 1872 it had developed to the extent that Berrien County could ship 140,000 bushels of peaches each year and to this day you can still take the train from Detroit or Chicago and arrive at the same train station in downtown St. Joseph.
In 1880, Logan Drake purchased 20-22 acres of sand dunes from Native American settlers. He later joined up with Louis Wallace and formed the Silver Beach Amusement Company. A slide was erected in the water for children; a moving stairway dubbed "the people mover" was also installed on the bluff which cost a penny per ride. Roller coasters, a carousel, outdoor roller skating rink and dance pavilion were also added to complete this ?Carnival on the Beach?.
Silver Beach is still a community bonding point for guests and residents and currently a group of citizens are trying to bring back the allure of the Silver Beach Amusement Park by purchasing the original carousel with the intent of making it a working exhibit in downtown St. Joseph.
St. Joseph, as it exits today, is nestled on the southern tip of what has been fondly referred to as "The Riviera of the Midwest."
This deepwater port town is a growing resort community which ranges from the state line, from the South, in a spectacular arc along Lake Michigan to the North. A vast array of commodities are shipped in and out of the river's mouth as the St. Joseph Lighthouse stands sentinel on the horizon as boaters, fishermen and water-skiers partake of the majesty of Lake Michigan along the St. Joseph shoreline.
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