St. Joseph

 

Breakfast-in-a-bag is provided by this motel.  I picked up a couple to tide us over until we got to a breakfast restaurant.

The is the contents of the bag:  Honey Bun (very tasty), granola bar, and bottle of water. 

 

 

This is the restaurant we ate breakfast.  There is a LePeep in Springfield at which we have eaten.  Carol had biscuits and gravy, hash browns, and eggs and I had a Spanish omelet and potatoes.  Both of us ate every bite and walked out very, very full.  It is a great place to eat breakfast.  Our first stop was an antique mall.  We have passed through St. Joseph many times and saw from the interstate signs for a couple of antique malls.  We never stopped because we were on our way west.  On this trip, we finally visited those antique malls.

There used to be a Pony Express Motel and this was its sign

This metal depiction of a pony express rider is outside the Pony Express Museum.

Next stop was the Pony Express Museum.  The foundation of this building is the original 1850's stable.  The pony express headquarters was in St. Joseph.  The first pony express rider left from St. Joseph on April 3, 1960 .  The  nearly 2,000 mile would take 10 days with a relay of riders and horses carrying the mail and newspapers.  The idea was successful for nearly two years; then, the telegraph was invented and wires strung across the west making the pony express obsolete.

                                                        

 There were nearly 200 men who rode for the pony express.  One of those men was Buffalo Bill Cody.

This is a reproduction of a pony express station.  It  contained a bunk bed, table and chairs, and cooking area.  Riders would exchange mail and rest in the station while waiting for their next shift of ride.

This mural was painted on the side of a building in the area.  St. Joseph uses the Pony Express name in its businesses, etc.  This is pony express country.

 

This is the Patee House Museum.  It was a hotel built in 1858 and was used as the pony express headquarters.  It served as the U.S. provost marshal's office during the Civil War.  St. Joseph contained both union and confederate supporters.  The Patee House served as a hotel three times, a girl's college twice and a shirt factory for 80 years.  Finally, in 1965 it became a Western history museum.  Now it contains the history of St. Joseph.   One fact we found interesting was that the owner, John Patee was a Confederate sympathizer and was short of cash so he had to sell his hotel by a lottery.  He had to buy the last 100 tickets himself in order to get the tickets sold.  When the winning ticket was drawn, it was one of the tickets he had bought.  

This was the office of the pony express.

This is called a mochita and carried the pony express mail.  The rider carried it to the next relay station.  He would take it off his horse and place it on the next rider's horse, who would then mount his horse and carry the mochita to the next relay station.

The museum was a very interesting display of St. Joseph in the early years of the city.  It revealed events and people who played a part in the history of the city. 

Who knew...Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph.  In fact, his grandfather and father were dentists practicing in St. Joseph. 

This the check-in counter in the lobby of the hotel.

The Studebaker family owned a wagon and carriage business.  They went from building wagons and carriages to building the Studebaker car.

This Studebaker was called the "President's Car."

I caught Carol coming out of the saloon!

The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was the first in the nation to extend as far west as St. Joseph.  The last Hannibal steam locomotive and railway mail car are on display here.

Robert Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois, and was the world's tallest man.  He filed a lawsuit against a doctor who lived in St Joseph so he was in the city for the length of the court proceedings.  Carol looks like a shorty standing he Brown in front of this life-sized photo of Mr. Wadlow.  He worked for the Brown Shoe Company as the advertising face of the company.  They supplied his shoes.

This is a 13-star American flag.  It was carried by an early military troop.  I don't know what its connection to St. Joseph was.  I had never seen a 13-star flag before.

Arthur Pryor was from St. Joseph and played in John Phillip Sousa's band.  This is his trombone and band uniform.

Aunt Jemima pancake mix was invented in St. Joseph.  It was originally milled here but was eventually brought out  by the Quaker Oats Company.  Quaker Oats retained Aunt Jemina as its trademark.

One of the things St. Joseph is known for is Jesse James.  He was shot by a member of his gang in this house. He and his wife and children were renting this house in 1882 when he was shot.  He was 34-years old and had spent half of his life as a bank robber and murderer.  

The bullet went through his head and into this wall in the living room.  The hole has been made bigger by people visiting the house and taking pieces of the wallpaper as a souvenir.

We left the old downtown area on Penn Street.  The street took us out to the newer parts of the city.  It was a small two-laned street on rolling hills.  I noticed that the original street signs were on the corners.  One side showed Penn Street and the other showed the cross-street.  I had never seen street signs like these.

We ate supper at Fazoli's which is a fast-food Olive Garden.  They have unlimited bread sticks and delicious Italian food.  It was very good and should keep us from getting hungry the rest of the evening.  We got back to the motel about 4:30 and are just relaxing.  It was a great day spent on our feet and those feet need to rest.