20 Reasons We Love Missouri

St. Joseph (population 76,000) has great history: Jesse James, Pony Express and, more recently, birthplace of Walter Cronkite.

At the Pony Express Stables, much of the building where the horses were stabled is original. The little museum has an interactive map of the route and saddles you can sit on (816/279-5059; ponyexpress.org). The Jesse James Home Museum is the house where the outlaw was shot and killed (816/232-8206). At the Patee House Museum, you can climb on an 1860 train and see what the streets of St. Joseph looked like from the 1860s to 1880s (ponyexpressjessejames.com). For more historical sites, visit the St. Joseph website.

St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau