Мичиган штатындағы Сент-Джозеф округі

County in Michigan, United States

St. Joseph County is a county located in the U. S. state of Michigan, on the central southern border with Indiana. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 60,939. The county seat is Centreville. French colonists in the late 17th century were the first Europeans to explore this territory, and they named the St. Joseph River for the patron saint of New France. St. Joseph County comprises the Sturgis, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Kalamazoo Battle Creek Portage, MI Combined Statistical Area.

This area was settled by members of the three Algonquian speaking tribes of the Council of Three Fires: the Potawatomi, Odawa, and Chippewa (known as Ojibwa in Canada). French explorers in a party led by Father Hennepin came upriver from Lake Michigan in 1679. A Jesuit mission was established near where the French later built Fort St. Joseph, and they named the waterway as the St. Joseph River. After the United States and tribal representatives made the 1821 Treaty of Chicago, much of the land in this region was ceded by the tribes to Michigan Territory, so more settlers came from Detroit, Monroe and later from New England and upstate New York. The first were ethnic French. The Godfroy brothers of Detroit built a trading post south of the river, near the later Marantette House site. They appointed Frances Mouton as an agent to trade with the natives of the Nottawaseepe (sippi) settlement. They had another post nearby where Patrick Marantette, also from Detroit, first worked as an agent. He ended up settling in and marrying Mouton's daughter Francis. Theirs was the first marriage in the settlement, and their daughter the first European American born here, in 1836.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 521 square miles (1,349 km2), of which 501 square miles (1,298 km2) is land and 20 square miles (52 km2) (3.9%) is water. It is the fourth smallest county in Michigan by total area. The entire county lies in the Saint Joseph River watershed.

runs east–west across the lower portion of the county and passes White Pigeon and Sturgis. runs north–south through the western portion of the county and passes Three Rivers, Constantine, and White Pigeon. runs north–south through eastern Three Rivers. runs east northeast through the upper portion of the county and passes Three Rivers, Parkville, Mendon, Leonidas. enters the southeastern portion of the county from Star Mill, Indiana, and runs north to an intersection with M 60, 2 mile (3 km) east of Mendon. runs east–west through the center of the county, entering at Colon, passing Nella and Centreville to an intersection with M 60 at Three Rivers. enters the southwestern tip of the county and runs north 2 mile (3 km) to intersection with US 12 near the western county line. enters the northwestern portion of the county from Marcellus and runs east to an intersection with US 131 4 mile (6 km) north of Three Rivers. Strictly speaking, the Indiana Toll Road does not enter St. Joseph County, but it has an interchanges with US 131 barely within Indiana. Although M 66 does not quite reach the Toll Road, the toll road interchange is in clear sight from M 66 before it becomes Indiana State Road 9.