Local History Week - History of South St. Joseph

When St. Joseph was founded, the community to the south was not included in the city limits. As the Southside prospered with the foundation of the stockyards and associated industries, the City of St. Joseph began to cast a covetous eye on the area. St. Joseph saw in its neighbor a means to increase its population and tax base. When the proposal for annexation was put forth in 1899 many people in South St. Joseph thought that they had little to gain and much to lose. Despite their objections, annexation happened and the implications of that continue to characterize relations between the Southside and the rest of St. Joseph.