Founded in 1839 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), the town of Nauvoo—a Hebrew-sounding word its founding father was told meant “the beautiful location”—was named by Mormon leader Joseph Smith, 12 years after he received the Book of Mormon from the Angel Moroni. Smith and many of his followers had spent the previous winter jailed in Liberty, Missouri, and by 1846 they were effectively exiled to Utah, but for a few years Nauvoo was among the largest settlements on the western frontier, with hundreds of log cabins and brick buildings and a population of some 6,000 Mormon believers. After 150 years of relative peace and quiet, in the 1990s the Mormon church started a massive, $30-million program of historic preservation, turning Nauvoo into a top destination for Mormon pilgrims and retirees. The “restoration” of Mormon Nauvoo, and the influx of well-heeled Mormon immigrants, has been on such a big scale that many non-Mormons have felt under siege. Visitors to Nauvoo will certainly have plenty of opportunities to learn about Mormon history and religion, but for the moment at least the part-preserved, part-restored townscape has a broad interest as a mostly non-commercialized reminder of what frontier America looked like in the years before the Wild West was finally “won.”
The biggest change in Nauvoo has been the reconstruction of the original Mormon temple, which, from the time it was finished in 1846 until it was burned down in 1848, was the largest building west of Philadelphia. An exact replica of the original, the new temple took more than 3 years to complete, and was dedicated in 2002. The temple, located at 50 Wells Street, has a remarkable series of stone capitals carved with sunburst motifs, and a 165-foot-high steeple capped by a statue of the Angel Moroni. Other interesting Mormon-related sites include the store run by Joseph Smith, and the home of Brigham Young. The home and workshop of Jonathon Browning, inventor of the repeating rifle, has been restored along Main Street, south of the present downtown area. There’s also a massive outdoor pageant (8 pm Tues.–Sat.; free; 800/453-3860) every July; recent ones have celebrated the 200th birthday of LDS founder Joseph Smith.
