Joseph Ellis Johnson (April 28, 1817 – December 17, 1882) was an American Mormon newspaper proprietor, politician, and businessman.
In this position, Johnson obtained the change of the settlement's name from Kanesville to Council Bluffs.
Johnson opened the first store in Omaha and sent the first train of goods to the Cherry Creek mines in Denver, Colorado.
In 1854, he published the Omaha Arrow, the first newspaper published in Nebraska, and the same year accompanied the first party of explorers for a railroad crossing on the Missouri River and Loupe Fork of the Platte River.
Johnson wrote the first article published favoring the North Platte route for the Pacific Railroad.
In 1882, Johnson moved at his church's call, this time to settle what would become Tempe, Arizona.