[6] Originally home to the native Dakota people until the signing of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, St. Joseph was laid out in 1855.

Writing in 1997, Jewish-American historian of America's religious architecture Marilyn J. Chiat described early settlement in the region, "Father Francis X. Pierz, a missionary to [Native Americans] in central Minnesota, published a series of articles in 1851 in German Catholic newspapers advocating Catholic settlement in central Minnesota.

As the farmers prospered, the small frame churches were replaced by more substantial buildings of brick or stone... Stearns County retains in its German character and is still home to one of the largest rural Catholic populations in Anglo-America.

"[7] St. Joseph was named by early German and Slovenian settlers after the patron saint of their newly erected log chapel.

In 1855, Notsch's parents and siblings became the first Slovenian family to emigrate to the New World, and carried with them an altarpiece for Fr.

The letter was published by Janez Bleiweis in the newspaper Novice, and convinced many other Slovene people to follow the Notsch family's lead.

Bruno Riss (1829-1900), a Benedictine missionary priest from Augsburg, in the Kingdom of Bavaria and founding father of St John's Abbey, the May 1856 arrival of the first Benedictine priests in the area at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Crétin was opposed by some local Catholic pioneers.

This was because many local settlers had been tenant farmers in the German States and had emigrated to America seeking to own the farmland on which they worked.

The Benedictines, however, successfully won the trust of local settlers by regularly helping them to both choose and defend their new homesteads.

[11] After the lifting of the interdict against St. Joseph, the first Rocky Mountain locust plague to strike Central Minnesota began on the Feast of the Assumption of 15 August 1856, during the preaching of a mission by Father Francis Xavier Weninger inside the newly erected log chapel.

The Rocky Mountain locusts darkened the sky and pounded upon the rooftop of the chapel so incredibly loud that they were mistaken for a thunder and hailstorm.

Only after the mission did the real reason for the "storm" become apparent, and the clouds of "hoppers" swiftly devoured both the crops and much of the seed grain, which left the newly arrived German-American Catholic settlers of the region destitute.

[13][14] St. Joseph was incorporated in 1890[8] and contains three properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the 1869 stone Church of St. Joseph, the 1918 First State Bank building, and a district of historic buildings at Saint Benedict's Monastery and College built between 1882 and the 1920s.

[15] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.89 square miles (10.08 km2), all land.

[27] At that time there was no money to pay a teacher, so parents did work for a local farmer, who in turn, taught the children.

The College of St. Benedict is home to the Claire Lynch Gym, where the NCAA DIII Bennies complete in volleyball and basketball against regional MIAC teams.

The outdoor athletic complex is the Bennies home for hosting MIAC soccer and softball games.

The outdoor concert traditionally occurs in conjunction with Independence Day, and has featured headlining acts such as the Killer Vees, stars from the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys, and the Fabulous Armadillos.