Introduction to Historic Nauvoo

Transcription

1 BYU Stdies arterly Volme 32 Isse 1 Article Introdction to Historic Navoo Loren C. Dnn Follow this and additional works at: Recommended Citation Dnn, Loren C. (1992) "Introdction to Historic Navoo," BYU Stdies arterly: Vol. 32 : Iss. 1, Article 5. Available at: This Article is broght to yo for free and open access by the All Jornals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclsion in BYU Stdies arterly by an athorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@by.ed, ellen_amatangelo@by.ed.

2 Dnn: Introdction to Historic Navoo introdction to historic navoo elder loren C dnn commerce was a near wilderness whenjoseph smith broght his followers there in 1839 they had been driven from their prosperos settlements in missori byviolent frontier mobs sspicios ofthe saints religion and new england antislavery backgrond and fearfl of their sympathy for the indians their rapid growth and their nified voting power appeals by the saints to the missori governor had broght an order to leave the state or face extermination here they hoped to find peace joseph named the land they had prchased navoo which he said was from the hebrew meaning a beatifl place connoting rest in spite of poverty and recrring bots of malaria they drained the swampy land planted crops and began to bild a city in six years navoo became one of the two largest cities in illinois a close rival of chicago the state legislatre granted the saints a city charter A yong legislator named abraham lincoln voted for it it gave navoo the right to have a niversity an independent jdiciary and a nit of the state militia soon it had all three and the people felt safe in their rapidly growing city converts came from the east and the soth from england and canada no one thoght abot the comment heber C kimball had made when he first saw the town site its a very pretty place bt not long abiding home for the saints qoted in helen mar whitney life incidents womans comans exponent9 Exponent exponents9 jly NY heber C kimball was right rivalry among frontier towns was strong and neighboring towns dwarfed by the growing giant and fearfl of its political power became hostile navoos Navoospoplation was arond 12 the other towns had only a few hndred each jailed on a charge oftreason joseph smith and his brother hyrm were killed by a mob in 1844 mobs began brning and plndering the saintsfarms harms arond navoo advised by their leaders not to precipitate a civil war loren C dnn is a member of the first qorm of the seventy of the chrch of jess christ of latter day saints elder dnn is also chrch historian bystdies BYU Stdies 32 nos Pblished by BYU ScholarsArchive,

3 BYU Stdies arterly, Vol. 32, Iss. 1 [1992], Art bystdies BYU Stdies by retaliating the latter day saints agreed to leave in the spring of1846 to bild again in the west governorthomas Governo rthomas thomas ford estimated that 2 left As their wagons moved west they left behind some 2 homes a theater and concert hall many bsinesses and a barely completed temple in less than a decade the temple was destroyed most of the city of joseph decayed and disappeared joseph smiths widow emma stayed with her family forteen years later her son became president of the reorganized chrch of jess christ of latter day saints which now maintains the graves of joseph hyrm and emma as well as the original homestead the mansion hose andjoseph smiths reconstrcted red brick store the small town attracted new immigrants A french icarian commne came and went a few of the some three hndred members stayed germans and swiss came for a while navoo was a german speaking town known for its grape indstry meanwhile most of the latter day saints who had fonded navoo were sccessflly bilding their new zion in the west to their twentieth centry descendants navoo is an important way station in their ancestors saga since 1937 some of those descendants have been bying back their ancestors properties among these were wilford wood from bontifl tah and dr J leroy kimball a salt lake city physician wood boght the first pieces of the temple site and several bildings on the flat dr kimball boght the home bilt by his great grandfather heber C kimball the chrch organized navoo restoration inc in 1962 and J leroy kimball was named its first president since 1962 navoo restoration inc has acqired abot one thosand acres of land and restored or reconstrcted seventeen bildings historical research and carefl archaeological exploration precede each restoration mch of it contribted by volnteers volnteer missionary gides in each showplace give their services and pay their own living expenses at present volnteers rn the farm in carthage a town closely related to the history of navoo navoo restoration inc has restored the jail as mch as possible to 1844 standards A state of joseph and hyrm smith by dee jay bawden was placed in the center of the block and the block itself landscaped the renovated carthage block was dedicated dring the navoo sesqicentennial on the following pages are recent 1991 photographs and brief descriptions of some of the restored pblic bildings bsiness bildings and homes in navoo for the location of these bildings see the map of navoo on p

4 Dnn: Introdction to Historic Navoo one of the most significant bildings in navoo is the printing office where books and newspapers were printed eqipment left here by the departing mormons cormons was sed to print the post mormon hancockeagle Hancoc heagie engle keagle heagle the navoo nem new noz citizen and the hancockpatriot Hancock Patriot in the printing office as they watch a printer at work visitors can see how the early editions of the book of mormon were printed the seventies hall is where visitors leam learn abot the missionary system of the chrch and the important part it played in bilding navoo As it stands today the hall is as similar to its predecessor as it is possible to make it with the information presently available cf the photograph on p 32 showing the seventies hall before it was restored Pblished by BYU ScholarsArchive,

5 BYU Stdies arterly, Vol. 32, Iss. 1 [1992], Art. 5 on main street is the three story cltral hall it was a center of social activity in the fast growing town and had some twenty six different ses from cort sessions and fnerals to grain storage and meetings of the masonic lodge next door to the cltral hall is the scovil bakery which was operated by lcis scovil and his wife lcy the scovils scovill also catered for socials sociats in the cltral hall which lcis helped to bild 4

6 Dnn: Introdction to Historic Navoo one block east of the bakery is the lyon drgstore windsor lyon lived there with his family while he operated the store he had a good knowl edge of botanical medicine for that day and grew his own herbs he sold a variety of goods inm his store and later de to the increase in trade and accompanying expansion in his bsiness he renamed his establishment the lyon variety store also on main street is the restored home and reconstrcted gn shop of jonathan browning the man who invented the repeating rifle jonathan joined the chrch in qincy moved to navoo in 1843 and started west in 1846 the first room of the north extension has the original brick walls and the kitchen and gnsmith forge workshop are all reconstrcted on the original fondations Pblished by BYU ScholarsArchive,

7 BYU Stdies arterly, Vol. 32, Iss. 1 [1992], Art. 5 sylvester B stoddard and his family joined the chrch dring the kirtland period and moved to navoo at an early date there he plied his trade as a tinsmith finally locating his home and shop on main street in this bilding althogh the shop was plain the hose section was well constrcted it had decorative tooled limestone at the top and bottom of the strctre and fine woodwork inside and arond the front entry althogh the original shop perished long ago diligent research has enabled reconstrction of the riser boot and shoemaker shop on its original site george C riser and his wife learned of mormonism from an employee in georges shoe shop in ohio strck by what they heard the yong cople immediately sold their bsiness and came to navoo to investigate the prophet in december 1842 they were baptized the next may 6

8 Dnn: Introdction to Historic Navoo brigham yongs home is a good example of his skill as a bilder and carpenter he bilt this hose in 1843 and added the two wings in 1844 after the death ofjoseph smith the presiding concils of the chrch often met in the east wing office there in 1845 they planned the great migration to the west joseph coolidge bilt this hose in 1843 it is one ofthe few frame bildings that has srvived from that period coolidge was a trsted friend ofjoseph and emma smiths and became the administrator of their estate after josephs death when the coolidges Coolidges left navoo a german immigrant boght this hose and trned it into a hotel today it featres demon- st of the early frontier crafts of making candles pottery and barrels strations Pblished by BYU ScholarsArchive,

9 BYU Stdies arterly, Vol. 32, Iss. 1 [1992], Art. 5 north of the coolidge hose is the brick hose bilt by joseph noble in 1843 he was converted by brigham yong and heberc in debercc kimball and went west with them in 1846 brigham yong and other chrch leaders boght his hose forjoseph rjoseph smiths mother lcy mack smith whose age and poor health kept her from going with them A carriage also provided for mother smith was probably kept in the brick bilding behind the hose the home of wilford woodrff was the first old navoo bilding to be given an athentic architectral restoration completed in 1969 wilford woodrff did mch of the original work himself in between absences on missions for the chrch he took pride in his work and recorded that he sorted throgh his entire spply of bricks of them to find the best ones for the front wall every room has a working fireplace iel lel 8

10 Dnn: Introdction to Historic Navoo another hose that srvived in fair condition is the heber C kimball home jst a block from wilford woodrffs woodrffes it was completed in 1845 bt heber and his wife vilate enjoyed it for only five months before they went west in 1846 the east wing and porches were likely added by john heinrich lienhard a swiss immigrant who lived in navoo for sixty years bilt in 1843 this log cabin served as the home ofdr calvin pendleton and his wife sally ann dr pendleton was an herbal doctor and was skillfl in setting broken bones he was also a gnsmith and a schoolteacher in this home the doctor taght reading writing and arithmetic to yoth and penmanship to adlts of the approximately twentyfive hndred homes in navoo more than forteen hndred were log strctres Pblished by BYU ScholarsArchive,

11 BYU Stdies arterly, Vol. 32, Iss. 1 [1992], Art. 5 in E r U C U 1 1 to r 71 U U Z V r 1