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ST JOSEPH ISLAND

A Summary of the history of St. Joseph Island

St Joseph Island is located approximately at 46° 15' 00" N - 83° 53' 00" W District of Algoma, Ontario, Canada.

It is about 20 miles long by about 12 miles wide (about 90,000 acres) and lies in Lake Huron at the junction of where Lake Superior, Lake Michigan 

and Lake Huron combine.

St. Joe as it is commonly called was not inhabited by the white man until the late 1700's when in 1796 a British Military outpost (Fort St. Joseph) 

was established. The Fort and its personnel played a large part in the war of 1812 until it was burned by the Americans in 1814 and the Military left.

The next settlers did not arrive until around 1835 when a Major Rains, Archibald Hamilton Scott, and Charles Thompson arrived and attempted to

colonize the Island. This did not occur.

The major influx of settlers began after the "Homestead Act" of 1877 which granted free land. From this beginning it has developed into its’

current day status.

For more details see the "timeline" from the main menu.