In addition to massive housing demands, Nauvoo also had two large public projects under construction: a beautiful limestone temple on the hill, towering over the entire community, and a four-story hotel at the river's edge. The city teamed with activity from blacksmiths, gunsmiths, lumberyards, brick and rope makers, and shopkeepers, women's and youth organizations, Masonic Lodges, and a university.
As with all large towns, particularly those on the edge of the frontier, Nauvoo attracted many less desirable people, some of whom claimed membership in the Mormon faith.
This was the age of the river pirate, and horse thieves and banditti roamed the prairies of Illinois. Fearing that they would be subject to the same kinds of spurious prosecutions the Saints had received over the short 10 years since the faith was founded, nearly anyone claiming membership in the Mormon Church was given a safe haven at Nauvoo, without regard to evidence or testimony from outside the city limits.
Some area residents soon became troubled over Nauvoo becoming a safe haven for thieves and robbers, its booming size, and great economic and political power. This group was determined to repeal the Nauvoo Charter and drive the Mormons from Illinois. Hearing the same feelings expressed in Illinois that had caused terrible persecutions in Missouri, the Mormons only became firmer in their convictions, and soon a tit for tat war had begun.
In the spring of some of Joseph Smith's most trusted followers broke from him, and determined to expose his secret practice of polygamy and break up the political influence of Nauvoo on state politics. Three days later on Monday, June 10th, the Nauvoo City Council called an emergency meeting and declared that the newspaper was a public nuisance, ordered all copies gathered up and burned, and the press destroyed.
Within days the county was on the verge of civil war, with armed bands everywhere. Joseph Smith, as mayor of Nauvoo, declared martial law within the city, preventing armed men from going out or coming in to town. When news of the situation reached Governor Thomas Ford, he immediately ordered out the state militia and went to Carthage to see the situation for himself. After reaching Carthage, Ford called for Smith and the Nauvoo City Council to surrender themselves to stand trial for the destruction of the press.
Under a promise of protection, Joseph Smith and a few of the council members surrendered themselves on 24 June. Three days later, with the governor gone to Nauvoo, a group of Warsaw militia stormed the county jail and there killed Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and wounded a third man, with a fourth man in the room escaping injury.
At the death of Joseph Smith the county was gripped in terror in fear of Mormon retaliation. Instead of retaliating, the City of Nauvoo was silent. With the Mormons not returning action, and the governor having gone back to Springfield, the Anti-Mormon Party organized a series of raids against outlying Mormon settlements.
By the summer of the hostilities had progressed to shooting on both sides, and armed groups were again roaming Hancock County. With his immediate attention focused on another outbreak of violence in the southern part of the state, Governor Ford called out the State Militia to again quell the hostilities. This time the Mormons, now under the leadership of Brigham Young, agreed to leave the state and abandon Nauvoo the coming spring.
With their temple nearly completed, the Mormons began to put it to use in the winter of Fearing his people would be trapped, Young ordered many of the community's leaders to immediately evacuate the city, with the majority of the Saints to follow when the weather was better.
Throughout the spring and summer of , there was a continual procession of wagons crossing the Mississippi River on anything that could get them across. By September the town that had once been home to more than 20, people had been reduced to less than 2, Impatient to get the remainder of the Mormons from Nauvoo, the Anti-Mormon Party again marshaled their forces and attacked the city that now had only the poorest and weakest Mormons and approximately new citizens.
Under the prophetic leadership of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Latter-day Saints worked together during these years to build a faith-based community and a temple overlooking the Mississippi River.
COVID 19 visitor information updates. The Nauvoo Temple was a focal point in the historic landscape of Nauvoo and in the lives of the Latter-day Saints. Today Historic Nauvoo is open to the public. Visitors enjoy tours and activities in historic homes, shops, and other buildings. The temple has been reconstructed, and the temple grounds are open to the public year-round.
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