Anti-Horse Thief Associations started in 1854 in Missouri as horse thieves were prevalent in the United States. Other states also began to have these associations as they saw a benefit to society like St. Joseph County Michigan. It was not until 1863 that the different associations banded together to create a national order as horse thievery was increased due to the Civil War. The association was not created as a vigilante group as they turned over the criminals to the police once caught. By 1906 there were different jurisdictions that governed the states that had the organization. The five jurisdictions included Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and Kanas. The Illinois jurisdiction governed over Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, all the territories of Ohio, and east of the Mississippi rivers not otherwise districted.

The St. Joseph County Anti-Horse Thief Society in Michigan began itself in March of 1854 as the Anti-Horse Thief Company and reorganized itself in 1873 with the membership to join being $5. At some point, St. Joseph County became a society rather than the usual association. They had a president who was J.H. Gardner, a secretary George Frankish, and a treasurer James Staden. They also had two directors J.F. Wolf and Thomas Cuddy. The society had its own bylaws and rules. They had its own board of officers which appointed one person from each township in St. Joseph County. These appointees from the township give directions to the pursuit and apprehension of any person stealing a horse from a member. The person having the horse stolen is authorized to pursue the criminal. The society was a well-structured organization with cash and securities on hand, to carry out business. The Anti-Horse Thief Society also once owned the Centreville fairgrounds after the fair fell on hard times in the late 1880s to early 1900s. The fair borrowed money from the society. The fair then closed and the Anti-Horse Thief Society received the land. In 1916 they gave the grounds to the grange.

The society was flourishing with 400 members by 1891 and 40,000 members nationwide by 1906. Even though the outlaw days had passed, the association was still prevalent, becoming a fraternal organization and including a Ladies Auxiliary eventually having groups in sixteen states. Sometime in the 1930s the organization dropped horses from the name due to horses not being the number one source of transportation and less stealing of horses.