Nauvoo Historic District

Nauvoo Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District containing the city of Nauvoo, Illinois. The historic district is nearly coterminous with the City of Nauvoo as it was incorporated in 1840, but it also includes the Pioneer Saints Cemetery (40.5369°N 91.3507°W / 40.5369; -91.3507 (Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds)), the oldest Mormon cemetery in the area, which is outside the town boundary.[3]

Nauvoo Historic District
Joseph Smith Homestead
LocationNauvoo, Illinois
Coordinates40.548°N 91.382°W / 40.548; -91.382
Area3,850 acres (1,560 ha)
Built1839 (1839)
NRHP reference No.66000321
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966[1]
Designated NHLDJanuary 20, 1961[2]

Contributing structures include:

Carving at the LDS Temple Quarry

There are many non-contributing, modern structures in the district.

The district was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[2] It is significant as the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1839 and 1846, and as an important early example of community planning by the LDS church. The city's basic plan is still discernible despite the many modern intrusions, and there are a wealth of historical archaeological sites related to the early LDS settlement period, including the site of the main temple, which occupied a prominent location in the city; it was burned in 1848 and its remains were levelled by a tornado in 1865. Due to the large influx of Mormons, Nauvoo became Illinois's largest city for a brief period in the 1840s. Despite this, it lacked a distinct commercial center, consisting mainly of residences laid out on broad streets on a rectangular grid.[3]

The Mormons were forced out of Nauvoo in 1848, and the community was taken over by the Icarians, a utopian religious movement. In the 1960s, Mormon preservationists began to restore it and develop it as a tourism site related to the history of Mormonism.[3]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Nauvoo Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  3. Blanche Higgins Schroer and Ray H. Mattison (March 27, 1976) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Nauvoo, Illinois, National Park Service and Accompanying 12 images, from 1975 or undated, including one engraving reproduced from an 1873 book.
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