| has gloss | eng: Fort Saint Joseph was a fort originally established on land granted to the Jesuits by King Louis XIV located on what is now the south side of the present day town of Niles, Michigan. Pere Jean Claude Allouez established the Mission de Saint-Joseph there in the 1680’s. Allouez ministered to the local Native Americans. Built by the French in 1691 mainly as a trading post on the lower Saint Joseph River, the fort was located where one branch of the Old Sauk Trail, a major east-west Native American trail, and the north-south Grand River Trail meet and fords the river. The fort was a significant stronghold of the fur trade at the southern end of Lake Michigan. |
