Urban Transformation on the Shores of Hancock County, Illinois

The Development of Nauvoo: Frontier Wilderness to Fledgling Mormon Metropolis, 1824-1840

John PreysnerThe University of ChicagoProfessor Michael Conzen

GEOG 21900- Historical Geography: The U.S.11 December 2014

Historian and photographer Glenn Cuerden describes mid-19th century Nauvoo, Illinois

as “perhaps the quintessential intentional community” (2006, p. 8). Known to even casual

scholars of American history as the final ephemeral settlement of the early Mormons prior to

their exodus to present-day Salt Lake City, Nauvoo was indeed purposefully developed to

become for its tight-knit Mormon settlers the “beautiful place” that its Hebrew-inspired name

suggested (Federal Writer’s Project of Illinois, 1939). While this vision did not ultimately prove

to be nearly as enduring as the prophet Joseph Smith and his followers would have hoped, both

the fantastic growth and the subsequent abandonment of Nauvoo over a short period of seven

years merit the academic consideration of urban and historical geographers alike.

In this geographical treatment of Nauvoo’s early history, I consider the first of these

remarkable characteristics of this failed iteration of the Mormon Zion: the city’s growth from

wilderness to fledgling Mormon metropolis. I begin with a consideration of Nauvoo’s often

forgotten pre-Mormon history, which is considered for the purposes of this paper from the first

permanent Anglo-American settlement in 1824. This is followed by a discussion of the corporate

nature of the Mormons, their experiences in Missouri, and their land purchases in Hancock

County, Illinois and its environs. Finally, explanation and analysis of the urban development

patterns that arose in Nauvoo between 1839 and 1840 are presented, and their impacts on the

future of Nauvoo are discussed. This examination demonstrates the key factor that shaped the

spatial evolution of early Nauvoo: the vision and sheer magnetism of Joseph Smith, Prophet of

the Mormon church.

This “Smith effect” on settlement and development patterns in Nauvoo directly conflicted

with the topographic and physical realities of the land in the city’s early stages. In the process of

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“building up” their Zion1, the Mormons initially improved a swampy river bottom to establish

Nauvoo as a rational, gridded urban center and make Joseph Smith’s lowland residence and store

the early focal points of the community. These phenomena allude to both Smith’s desire to cast

Nauvoo in his own desired image and his centrality to the economic and social affairs of the city.

In fact, the words of historian Robert Flanders carry much weight with respect to the early

development of the fledgling city: “the stamp of [Smith’s] personality and of his vision were

fixed indelibly upon Nauvoo” (1965, p. 4). In sum, from a Gentile perspective on Nauvoo, Smith

can be viewed as much as a catalyst of his community’s urban morphology as the prophet of a

fledgling faith.

An account of the pre-Mormon settlement history of Nauvoo is most usefully studied as a

feeble contrast to the comparatively rapid development of the city after 1839. Prior to the

western advancement of permanent Anglo-American settlement, the land along the Mississippi

River near Nauvoo was inhabited by the Fox and Sauk Indians (Cuerdan, 2006). It was from this

loose confederation that James White in 1824 purchased the village of Quashquame and

established the first permanent Anglo-American settlement in what is now Nauvoo. This

settlement was named Venus, and officially became a “town” with the opening of a post office in

1830 (Shields, 1992). However, it attracted few settlers and was platted in 1834 under the new

name of Commerce2 (Cuerdan, 2006). Attesting to its insignificance on the western frontier, the

naming conventions for the town differ between two state maps of Illinois published in 1837. On

S.A. Mitchell’s map of Illinois (see Figure 2), the correct convention of Commerce is printed,

1 I allude to one of Joseph Smith’s oft-quoted musings in his personal journal, in which he states “I considered it wisdom to make an attempt to build up a city” in what is today Nauvoo (Joseph Smith’s History, 3:375, under entry for June 11, 1839).2 The 1834 plat of the town of Commerce by Teas and Alexander is included in the maps of Figures 4, 8, and 9 for useful comparison with the later land purchases that became Nauvoo and the Nauvoo plat itself. Commerce was not platted in a north-south grid, but rather extended southeast from the northern bend of the Mississippi along the Nauvoo peninsula. Therefore, it visually intersects the Nauvoo plat in an oblique manner.

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while on J.H. Young’s map (see Figure 1), the town is still identified as Venus. Perhaps this

early obscurity helped spur the platting of yet another town in the Nauvoo area by western land

speculators, named Commerce City3, in 1837. Commerce City never became more than a “paper-

plotted town,” meaning that it was never actually settled on the ground, and the prospects of both

Commerce and Commerce City were threatened by the Panic of 1837, which shocked the

nation’s finances (Cuerdan, 2006). Only with the arrival of the Mormons in 1839 would this land

on the shores of Hancock County flower into a robust frontier settlement4.

Both the nature of the Mormons as a corporate body and this body’s relation to the

Prophet must be outlined in order to understand the underlying reasons for the Mormon exodus

from Missouri in 1839 as well as the early settlement and development patterns of Nauvoo.

Above all, early Mormon converts were drawn to Smith’s vision of a “corporate Zionic

enterprise” (Flanders, 1965, p. 3), one in which much work and sacrifice for the community and

the church was required. Early settlements in Kirtland, Ohio and Independence and Far West,

Missouri (see Figure 5) had helped to mold the Mormons into a highly centralized body of

believers under the Prophet and other church leaders, for only as a body could they withstand

persistent persecution (Flanders, 1965). Furthermore, the Saints, as they referred to themselves,

developed a “kind of Mormon para-nationalism” (Flanders, 1965, p. 3) of which many Gentiles

were wary. At the head of this “nation” was Joseph Smith, on whom the Saints placed their

hopes in this world. Brodie (1971) indicates that “the people fairly adored him” (p. 181), and

Flanders (1965) concurs, stating that “there seemed to be no end to the sacrifices they would

3 Commerce City was platted to the northeast of the town of Commerce, and was slightly larger in extent. The plat is included in the maps of Figures 4, 8, and 9 for useful comparison with the later land purchases that became Nauvoo and the Nauvoo plat itself. In Figure 8, the Commerce City plat largely coincides with the area labeled “Joseph Smith’s Addition.” Commerce City, like Commerce, extended southeast from the northern bend of the Mississippi along the Nauvoo peninsula, intersecting the Nauvoo plat in an oblique manner.4 Commerce consisted of one stone house, three frame houses, and two block houses upon the eve of Mormon purchase of the land in 1839 (Shields, 1992).

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undertake, the zeal they would manifest, under his direction” (p. 7). Having already led his

Saints from upstate New York, through Ohio, and into Missouri, Smith possessed an enduring

magnetism that was undeniable. However, Smith’s centrality in Mormon society would reach its

zenith at Nauvoo, where his Saints would “build up” a city with the Prophet as its focus.

The Mormon experience proved nomadic from its inception, and their transitory mode of

settlement continued in Missouri. Although the Saints gained control of local government and

“permanently” settled in the town of Far West in newly established Caldwell County, Missouri

in 1833 (see Figure 5), fear of growing Mormon political power among the locals and the reality

of some Mormon aggression in the region led Governor Boggs to order the state militia to

“exterminate” the Saints, and to arrest the Prophet (Shields, 1992). Under such conditions, a

“Committee on Removal” was hastily formed by church leaders to sell off Mormon properties in

Far West and assist in yet another exodus of the Saints, this time to the town of Quincy in Adams

County, IL (see Figure 5), which in early 1839 was the largest town on the upper portion of the

Mississippi (Flanders, 1965). Though Quincy was too populated by Gentiles to be contemplated

as the site for the Mormon’s long-desired permanent settlement, the Saints’ arrival in Illinois

would prove to be a providential step towards the establishment of their own earthly city.

Escaped from Missouri and still with no permanent home from which to tie their

“corporate Zionic enterprise” (Flanders, 1965, p. 3) to the land, the Mormons became the target

of real-estate speculators. Land speculation was a booming business in Illinois and Iowa

Territory5, and in the eyes of speculators, Mormons represented the “fairest game that had ever

5 On both the Illinois and Iowa sides of the Mississippi from Quincy, IL were large tracts of land that had been set aside by the federal government for special groups. On the Illinois side stood the Military Bounty Tract, which contained land from the Illinois River to the Mississippi and was intended to serve as alternative compensation for veterans of the War of 1812 (Flanders, 1965). On the Iowa side stood the Half-Breed Tract (see Figure 3), which had been reserved by the federal government for the offspring of mixed “marriages” common on the western frontier (Brodie, 1971). Many members of these special groups sold their holdings for guns, horses, or other items, and forged land deeds were prolific, meaning that land transactions were often undertaken by speculators who didn’t legally own the land they were selling (Brodie, 1971).

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come into the state” (Brodie, 1971, p. 249). Actively searching for land and easily duped by the

façade of feigned virtue and uprightness, the Mormons, and especially Smith, became intrigued

by the “kindness” and generous land offerings6 of speculator Isaac Galland of Commerce, IL,

who had written to the Prophet about his holdings while Smith was still in jail in Missouri

(Brodie, 1971). Following Smith’s escape and his arrival in Quincy in April, 1839, the Mormons,

under Smith’s direction, purchased land in both the Half-Breed Territory and Military Bounty

Tract from Galland for “no money down and long years to pay” (Flanders, 1965, p. 34). The land

resources needed to build an intentional Mormon community were now possessed by the Prophet

and the church (see Figure 3).

The Mormon land purchases of 1839, as the first territorial elements of what was to

become Nauvoo and its environs, fit into Smith’s vision of how Mormon settlement should be

structured and also helped to define areas of enduring influence even as Nauvoo expanded after

1840. From Galland, the church acquired 20,000 acres across the Half-Breed Tract in Lee

County, Iowa Territory, beginning in April and ending in August 1839 (see Figure 3). Terms

were set at two dollars per acre, with the land to be paid off in twenty annual payments with no

interest (Cuerdan, 2006). Additionally, land in the vicinity of Commerce was acquired from

Galland and other local land owners. This included the initial purchases of April 30, 1839 (see

Figure 4), one from Galland of 47 acres along the southwest bend of the Nauvoo peninsula

valued at $9,000, and one from Hugh White of 135 acres about a mile south of the plat of

Commerce valued at $5,000 (Flanders, 1965). The year’s purchases were completed in August,

when the church bought nearly 500 acres of land across the northern part of the peninsula from

Horace Hotchkiss and John Gillet7, the men responsible for the plat of Commerce City, at a high 6 While Galland did own the rights to the land that he sold to the Mormons in the vicinity of Commerce, IL, his legal title to the land he sold in the Half-Breed Tract of Iowa was “extremely dubious” (Brodie, 1971, p. 249).7 These purchases also included smaller holdings of Smith Tuttle and William White (see Figure 4), but Gilet and Hotchkiss were the owners of the largest tracts of land purchased in August 1839 (Flanders, 1965).

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combined price of $114,500 (Flanders, 1965). By the end of 1839, the Mormon church owned

most of the Nauvoo peninsula, with only land on the peninsula’s western end not officially

deeded to the church (see Figure 4). By the end of the following year, the city of Nauvoo had

been incorporated by an act of the legislature of Illinois (Roberts, 1900).

Even before Nauvoo’s formal incorporation, the influence of the prophet (the “Smith

effect”), on the settlement pattern of Nauvoo and the development of Mormon landholdings in

general is apparent. Although Flanders (1965) claims “Smith gave no reason why he chose the

east bank of the river as his own residence or as the site of Nauvoo” (p. 38), this area of land

stands out among the Mormon purchases due to the fact that it was comparatively rather

expensive to acquire (and thus highly valued by both parties involved in the land transaction), it

had already seen efforts at settlement, it provided extensive riverfront access, and it was both on

the other side of the Mississippi River from Missouri and buffered by the southeastern dip of

Iowa Territory along the Des Moines River (see Figure 3). Therefore, from a strategic

geographic perspective, although not central to the new Mormon landholdings in 1839, Nauvoo

stood at a safe distance from those hostile to the Saints and provided an anchor from which

Mormon settlement could extend eastward into Illinois8. This potential of the Nauvoo site made

it an ideal central location in the long-term view of Smith’s settlement vision, in which satellite

cities, referred to as “Stakes of Zion,” were to radiate from the established Mormon metropolis

as the number of converts increased9 (Flanders, 1965). Certainly, such a metropolis was to be the

place of residence of the Prophet, from which his central ecclesiastical role could be

complemented by geographic centrality.

8 To the west and southwest, the Mormons already owned much of the territory in the Half-Breed Tract (see Figure 3).9 Indeed, the development of one such “Stake of Zion” can be seen in Figure 6, a view of Nauvoo and its environs in 1843. The Zarahemla “stake” plotted on the map exemplifies a fledgling central-place hierarchy in Mormon settlement focused on Nauvoo (Flanders, 1965).

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While the macroscopic analysis of the location of Nauvoo apparently supports the

argument for Smith as an adept settlement-planning visionary, the location of the microscopic

core of Mormon settlement in Nauvoo provides a counterexample to Smith’s ability to read the

land. However, the location of the foci of early Mormon settlement in Nauvoo serves as a central

instance of the “Smith effect” in action, the reality that Smith’s magnetism as Prophet had a

greater influence on settlement patterns than the realities of the land and its adverse topography.

Smith’s initial settlement decision had a profound effect on the future development of

Nauvoo. As the adored Prophet and corporate leader of a highly centralized religion, Smith’s

choice of settlement determined where his followers would cluster their own residences. As

observed in Figures 4, 7, and 9, Smith took up residence along the southern border of the White

purchase in one of the few previously constructed log homes on the Nauvoo peninsula on May

10, 1839 (Roberts, 1900). This was undoubtedly an expedient decision so soon after the purchase

of the land, but Smith’s choice of residence placed the center of the young city directly at the

heart of the swampy river lowlands along the Mississippi. Smith himself described the southern

portion of the Nauvoo peninsula as such:

The place was literally a wilderness. The land was mostly covered with trees and bushes, and much of it so wet that it was with the utmost difficulty that a footman could get through…but [I] believ[ed] that it might become a healthy place by the blessing of heaven to the Saints. (Joseph Smith’s History, 3:375, under entry for June 11, 1839)

This land in the southwestern portion of Nauvoo, known as the “Flat,” was at a much lower

elevation than the land about a mile to the east, which in 1839 was privately owned but which

after 1840 became the part of the city known as the “Hill” (Federal Writer’s Project of Illinois,

1939). Indeed, this topographic variation can be seen in Gustavus Hills’ 1842 map of the city of

Nauvoo (see Figure 7). Tic marks show a winding line of bluffs arising from near the

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northeastern tip of the Nauvoo peninsula down to the southeastern tip, about three blocks west of

the early urban center that Smith’s residence established.

For the lowland settlement of Nauvoo to survive, the Mormons were forced to improve,

in Smith’s words make “healthy,” the marshy land around which their Prophet had chosen to

establish his home. The swampy nature of the “Flats” resulted from the runoff of streams and

springs in the bluffs which had no clear drainage channels (Flanders, 1965) A large channel

servicing these waterways was dug by the early settlers at the base of the bluffs, an example of

the communal sacrifice of labor and service to which the Saints were accustomed. Completed in

1840, this channel helped to eliminate the conditions which had caused many early settlers to

contract malaria upon arrival in Nauvoo (Givens, 1990). Despite these early constraints, Nauvoo

“was growing like a mushroom” (Flanders, 1965, p. 51) by 1840 as a result of its improved land,

with a population of about 3,000 (Givens, 1990), and by 1841, the “Flats” area was described by

the Times and Seasons town newspaper as extensively built up (Givens, 1990). Less than two

years into its existence and only just recently incorporated, Nauvoo had already risen to a level

of frontier prominence that neither Venus, Commerce, nor Commerce City attained. The

magnetism of the Prophet had drawn settlers to the “Flat” despite its physical deficiencies, and

the urban growth of Nauvoo, which would continue into the mid-1840s, had begun.

This improvement of the land on the “Flats” was necessary for the city’s growth, because

the original plat of Nauvoo did not include much land on the “Hill” (see Figure 8). This plat,

drawn by Joseph Smith in 1839, included 150 squares of four acres, divided into four equal lots

large enough to provide settlers with land for a residence as well as a garden (Flanders, 1965).

Smith’s plat was laid out in a rational grid, and ignored the natural features of the terrain.

Therefore, all of the troublesome river lowlands which the church owned through its purchases

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were included in the plat. The economic as well as physical centrality of Smith’s residence,

which later morphed into a “complex” with the 1842 founding of his Red Brick Store (Shields,

1992), was codified in the street widths of the plat. All of Nauvoo’s original streets were 49.5

feet wide, except for the two streets that intersected the Smith residence. This phenomenon is

noted in Hills’ map (see Figure 7) in the “References” box, hinting at its significance for the

settlement. Main Street was designed to be 87 feet wide and Water Street was designed to be 64

feet wide, portending their eventual growth and importance to the “Flats” business district

(Flanders, 1965). Thanks to Smith’s plat, ample space for transportation promoted the workings

of commerce directly at his doorstep.

The spatial clustering of the “Selected Properties and Residences” in Figure 9 shows the

enduring influence of the early-settled “Flats” district in economic and social affairs even in

1843, three years after the “initial” phase of Mormon settlement of Nauvoo treated in this paper.

Along with Smith’s Red Brick Store, which also served as a loaning agency and real-estate

enterprise (Givens, 1990), the “Flats” business district was home to Turley’s blacksmith shop

and the print shop for the Times and Seasons as well as the Nauvoo House, constructed in 1841

to serve as the premier Nauvoo hotel and as a “visitors center” for local and national dignitaries

(Shields, 1992). Certainly, the “Smith effect” served as the impetus for the development of the

“Flat,” and helped to maintain this portion of the town’s prominence even after the “Hills” were

settled and the grand Mormon Temple built (see Figure 9). Without Smith’s presence, this

portion of Nauvoo may never have been improved or transformed into an economically vibrant

district. Both the presence of the Prophet’s residence as a focus for population concentration and

the influence of his 1839 plat helped overcome the topographic constraints of the land by

catalyzing urban development.

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The story of the American frontier is replete with failed settlement experiments, paper-

plotted towns that faded into obscurity, and sleepy towns that never saw considerable growth.

The case study of the early rise of Nauvoo, an “intentional community” that rose where others in

the vicinity had failed, must be understood as both the result of the influence Smith himself had

on his followers and also the commitment his followers had to each other. The dream of a

“corporate Zionic enterprise” (Flanders, 1965, p. 3) underpinned the founding of Nauvoo and

provided for its development in a way that the motive of profit never could for speculators and

frontiersman in earlier settlements on the shores of Hancock County such as Venus, Commerce,

and Commerce City. Behind the corporate project of Nauvoo’s development stood the Prophet

Joseph Smith, whom his followers revered. The magnetism of Smith’s physical choice of

residence, as well as his macroscopic vision for “Stakes of Zion” and his microscopic vision of

the Nauvoo plat served to determine, until the Mormon exodus in 1846, the settlement

morphology of his Saints. Without the “Smith effect,” the area of Nauvoo today would only be

remembered as once-speculative land along a meander of the Mississippi, not the site of an

abruptly developed and abandoned Mormon metropolis centered around a unique, modern-day

prophet.

Figure 1- The Tourist's Pocket Map of the State of Illinois: Exhibiting its Internal Improvements, Roads, Distances &c. (1837)

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Figure 2- Mitchell's Map of Illinois Exhibiting its Internal Improvements, Counties, Towns, Roads, etc. (1837)

Figure 3

Figure 4

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Figure 5

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Figure 6

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Figure 7- Map of the City of Nauvoo, Drawn Principally from the Plats of the Original Surveys (1842)

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Figure 8

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Figure 9

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Brodie, F. M. (1971). No man knows my history; the life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet.New York: Knopf.

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Press. Givens, G. W. (1990). In old Nauvoo: Everyday life in the city of Joseph. Salt Lake City, UT:

Deseret Bk. Hills, G. (1842). Map of the city of Nauvoo, drawn principally from the plats of the

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Thorup, A., & Hernandez, V. (n.d.). Nauvoo plats, blocks, and lots, 30 April 1843 [Map]. In TheJoseph Smith Papers. Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://josephsmithpapers.org /bc-jsp/content/jsp/images/content/library/pdf/J2_Map8_Nauvoo-Plat_web.pdf

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