Discover Your Heritage

Uncover Over 200 Years of History

About Us

Learn About the St. Joseph Island Museum

St. Joseph Island Museum Village offers an engaging experience for families and history buffs alike, highlighting the rich history of this part of Canada.

Founded in 1963 by the Historical Society, the St. Joseph Island Museum has over 7000 artifacts in 6 buildings covering over 200 years of Island History. The progression of the Island is represented in four time periods: native encampments to Fort St. Joseph (1798-1814); pioneer settlements (1835-1890); to a period of almost complete private ownership by 1890; and the depression and war years (1900-1945).

Our Historical Buildings

The Church

When the St. Joseph Island Museum opened in 1963, it consisted of just one building: the I Line United Church. Formerly known as the Zion Church, this historical building was erected in 1899 and donated to the Museum Board in 1963.

The Brick School

The I Line school, erected in 1933 and located across the road from the I Line United Church, was used until 1964 when all the one-room schoolhouses were closed and the children were bussed into Hilton Beach and Richards Landing. The school was then donated to the Museum Board, allowing our museum to expand.

The Barn

The barn, originally located at the foot of the Island, was dismantled and re-located as a Centennial Project in 1967. It was re-built at the Museum in an old fashioned barn-raising bee involving some 20 men. The Jim Reed Drive Shed was added in 1999, named in honour of long-time museum volunteer and benefactor, Jim Reed.

The Log Schoolhouse

The Island’s first school, circa 1887, was moved to the Museum Village from Sailor’s Encampment in the 1980s. It was used as a school, council chambers, Sunday school, and as a private residence.

The Log Cabin

The log cabin is typical of early pioneer dwellings found on the Island in the 1890s. To lay claim to a property, settlers had to clear 15 acres and erect a dwelling. This cabin is actually a blending of two historical log cabins, because of base logs that had rotted and were no longer salvageable.

The Kentvale Store

Kentvale Merchants has been a St. Joseph Island institution for most of its modern history. Since 1888, generations of the Kent family have been providing old fashioned service to the area. This store served the Island community from 1912 to 1932, when the current store was built. In 1988, on Kentvale’s centennial, the 1912 Kentvale General Store was donated by Cal Kent and relocated to the St Joseph Island Museum.

Our Story

The History of St. Joseph Island

Located in the St. Mary’s River downstream from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, St. Joseph Island is a land rich in history dating back to the fur trading days of the 1700s.

The Island is 99,000 acres in size, making it the second-largest freshwater island in the world. It forms the western tip of the Niagara Escarpment, and is surrounded on the west, south and east by The United States. This made for some colourful military history on the Island, which all started with the construction of Fort St. Joseph.

Constructed by British forces on the southernmost point of the Island in 1776, The Fort was the most westerly British post in Upper Canada during a turbulent time. It also formed a key link along fur trade routes to the northwest, with Chippewa natives frequenting the area for maple syrup and fishing.

Fort St. Joseph became a rallying point as soon as the United States declared war on Great Britain in June 1812. The garrison commander, Captain Charles Roberts, knew that his fort was vulnerable and decided that his best defence was a good offence. On July 17, leading a force of about 40 regular soldiers, 150 Canadians and 300 Native people, Roberts captured the American fort on Mackinac Island, thereby serving notice to the American garrison that war had been officially declared.

Later, in 1814, the Americans retaliated and burned Fort St. Joseph to the ground. Today, the excavated ruins remain open to the public as a National Historical Site operated by Parks Canada.

In 1855, a survey of the Island was made by T.N. Molesworth and in 1868 the Homestead Act was passed. People learned about free land on St. Joseph Island through newspaper advertisements in the London Free Press. The greatest influx of settlers came between 1874 and 1882.

John Richards moved from Sault Ste. Marie in 1876 and founded the village of Richards Landing. John Marks moved from Bruce Mines in 1878 and founded Marksville, which incorporated as the village of Hilton Beach in 1923.

Over the years, the Island has developed into a popular tourist destination, attracting boaters and vacationers from all over the world. Our largest industries include maple syrup production, with Ontario’s largest producer calling St. Joe home.

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