St. Joseph, Missouri at a Glance
Location: Northwest Missouri
Access: Kansas City International Airport, Interstate 29, State Highway 36
Hotel Rooms: 1,100
Contact Info:
St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau
816-233-6688
St. Joseph Civic Arena
Built: 1980
Exhibit Space: 19,000 square feet
Other Meeting Spaces: Four breakout rooms
Meeting Hotels
Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center
Guest Rooms: 129
Meeting Space: 15,000 square feet
Who’s Meeting in St. Joseph
Great Plains Grower Conference
Attendees: 500
Pony Express STOL
Attendees: 500
Lions Club
Attendees: 200
Blessed with a rich cultural heritage and spectacular architecture, St. Joseph, Missouri, is an unexpected delight for planners seeking a central location and small-town charm with modern conveniences. The city is where both the Pony Express and the outlaw Jesse James kicked off (in very different ways), but that’s only the beginning. In the 1880s, St. Joseph was home to more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country. The prosperous manufacturing city gave rise to grand mansions, beautifully landscaped parks — including a 26-mile parkway that ribbons through the city — and a lively arts scene, all located less than 40 minutes from the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport.
Destination Highlights
St. Joseph got its start as a frontier trading post. Fur trader Joseph Robidoux established the Blacksnake Hills Trading Post in 1826, and the settlement was incorporated as a city in 1843. It became the last “civilized” outpost before people gold-rushed west — in 1849 an estimated 50,000 travelers came through — and the pretty city on the bluffs of the Missouri River grew into a manufacturing and mercantile powerhouse. By 1886, St. Joseph boasted an economy larger than Kansas City and Omaha combined. That wealth remains visible in the city’s architecture, which includes more than 60 structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Planners will appreciate a city that balances historical charm with modern amenities, and a central location that’s conveniently accessible from anywhere in the country. “Each group gets the red carpet rolled out and are treated like they’re the only meeting in town,” said Christian Mengel, director of communications and marketing for the St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau. “They aren’t just another event on the calendar. Our hospitality and services really provide a noticeable difference.”
Distinctive Venues
Planners can host events in the same buildings where history occurred. The Pony Express National Museum is housed in the original 1858 Pikes Peak Stables where the first rider departed in 1860, inaugurating mail service along an 1,800-mile route from St. Joseph to Sacramento, California. The museum has a community room with kitchen that can accommodate large groups of about 200.
The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art boasts one of the Midwest’s finest collections of 18th- through 21st-century American art, including works by Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt and Jacob Lawrence. Elegant spaces in the 1930s mansion can entertain up to 250 guests for cocktail receptions. The intimate wood-paneled art library and speakeasy is particularly stunning, with space for up to 20 people, and a modern 21,000-square-foot addition holds a 144-seat theater.
The Missouri Theater is one of the city’s many architectural gems. Completed in July 1927, the ornate theater combines art deco and Moorish elements and seats 1,200. It hosts tours and is available for private events and presentations. The Gilded Age parlors of the 1879 Wyeth-Tootle Mansion also provide an elegant setting for private dinners and receptions. Built by prominent businessman William Wyeth and designed to evoke the castles along Germany’s Rhine River, the Gothic sandstone mansion dazzles with oil-on-canvas ceiling paintings, ornate walnut woodwork and imported stained glass. The property can accommodate groups of up to 250 people. The Stables Ballroom at the 1887 Benton Club is an elegant space that can accommodate up to 200 guests.
Major Meeting Spaces
The St. Joseph Civic Arena is the city’s largest venue, with 40,000 square feet and seating for 2,300. Its meeting room complex has flexible arrangements for groups ranging from 25 to 200 attendees. The Fulkerson Center at Missouri Western State University can seat up to 500 people, and the leafy campus offers numerous spaces to accommodate a variety of events, including the Walter Cronkite Memorial. The memorial acts as a museum that pays tribute to the legendary CBS anchor who was born in St. Joseph in 1916, and it offers attendees a fascinating setting for breaks or social gatherings as well as group tours.
Just off the interstate, the 129-room Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center provides another convenient option. Six meeting rooms equipped with state-of-the-art technology can accommodate up to 1,220 people, and the hotel has more than 15,000 square feet of flexible event space, with breakout areas including spacious patios and cozy fireplace lounges.
At the emPowerU Mosaic Campus, planners will find a variety of meeting spaces, including a 2,728-square-foot central auditorium with stadium seating for 164 and the 2,236-square-foot Innovation Room, which has table seating for 74 and a kitchenette. Both rooms offer A/V systems with podiums and wireless microphones. The 2,500-square-foot Grand Ballroom at the riverboat-style St. Jo Frontier Casino has seating capacity for 200 attendees, while the 16,000-square-foot lawn and deck area offer picturesque views of the Missouri River.
After the Meeting
Guided tours of the city’s opulent historic districts take groups past landmark homes like the Shakespeare Chateau and the Isaac Miller House. The Patee House Museum, opened as a luxury hotel in 1858, has exhibits including an 1860 locomotive and a vintage carousel. The Glore Psychiatric Museum — deemed one of the 50 most unusual museums in the country — is located in the former surgery and outpatient building of what once operated as State Lunatic Asylum No. 2. Established in 1874, the museum holds a fascinating collection of artifacts from centuries of psychiatric treatment, providing an unforgettable experience.
In August, sports fans can watch practices and score autographs at the Kansas City Chiefs Summer Training Camp. The Remington Nature Center contains a 7,000-gallon aquarium that features fish from the Missouri River along with replicas of the woolly mammoths that once roamed the region.
The newly opened InspireU Children’s Discovery Center is fun for all ages, and private events for up to 350 attendees can be arranged in the event space and rooftop deck.
