Discover The True History Of Nauvoo, The Town In Illinois That Used To Be A Swamp
By Elizabeth Crozier|Published May 08, 2020
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Elizabeth Crozier
Author
An Illinois transplant who grew up and went to school in Indiana for 22 years, Elizabeth holds a BFA in creative writing and has enjoyed traveling across the country and parts of Europe. She has visited half of the states, as well as parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and regularly travels home to the Hoosier State to see friends and family. With more than five years of writing experience, Elizabeth’s articles have been featured on several websites, and her poetry and short stories have been published in multiple literary journals.
Few people know that there’s an old Mormon town right here in Ilinois. Nauvoo is historic in more ways than one, and you may be surprised that its roots are embedded in the Mormon story. Scroll on to learn all about it.
Few other than Mormons and those who live in Nauvoo know that this town is a sort of mecca for members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. It was one of the first settlements and by far the largest in the 1830s when Joseph Smith brought his congregation to Illinois.
Mostly settling around Quincy, Mormons overpopulated the town and surrounding areas. They worked with a land speculator and drained a large portion of a peninsula that was swampy and home to malarial mosquitoes.
The clearing of the swamp made room for more inhabitable space in a town that was called Commerce at the time. The population was at nearly 3,000 people and grew to 10,000. In 1840, the name was changed to Nauvoo.
This Mormon town was so big in comparison to the rest of the state at this time that it held its own pull in the vote. It also had its own militia as well as a university and was known for its business district.
Nauvoo welcomed all who claimed to be of the Mormon faith regardless of how or if they could prove it, and that attracted thieves, pirates, and all sorts of surly folk. Many in the community did not like that this was happening and even Joseph Smith's closest allies dissented and revolted against him with the power of the press.
Smith decided the paper was a nuisance and had the press burned which put the county on the verge of a civil war. Eventually, Smith surrendered and was jailed.
While being held, Smith was killed when the Warsaw militia stormed the jail.
After the death of Smith, the Mormons agreed to leave the state under the guidance of Brigham Young. By this time, the town had grown to 20,000 residents and would soon shrink to barely 2,000.
Today, about 1,000 people call this river town home. After leaving, most Mormons made their home in Salt Lake City, though many return to this town to visit the grave of Joseph Smith and to pay homage to one of the first and most prominent Mormon towns.
