William Robinson,[3][circular reference] a member of the House of Assembly for Upper Canada (1830-1840) and later Commissioner of Public Works named Lake Joseph and neighbouring Lake Rosseau after his friend Joseph Rousseau, the father of a fur trader in the area.

The Muskoka region is located within the Canadian Shield[4][circular reference] and features bedrock exposures and a veneer of glacially- derived sandy substrate.

[8] The Free Grants and Homestead Act[9][circular reference] passed in 1868 was part of an attempt by the new Ontario provincial government to attract European immigration to create an agricultural society in Muskoka, however the prospects of agricultural development on the Canadian Shield were woefully overestimated.

In the late nineteenth century road, rail and steamboat transportation infrastructure originally developed to support agriculture and forestry was repurposed to support tourism which became an important economic driver for Lake Joseph and the region.

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