On an early trip, Naper acquired lots near the fort, as did many of the first settlers to reach the Chicago River port.

Joseph Naper platted the town of Naperville, surveying the property and was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives for the first time in 1836.

Joseph Naper also served on the same committee with Abraham Lincoln, then a newly elected legislator from the Springfield area.

In the 1850s, Joseph Naper was one of the founding stockholders for the short-lived "Southwest Plank Road", now Ogden Avenue/U.S.

As many early settlers had done, Naper engaged in a number of trades and businesses as he helped to develop Naperville and Dupage County.