8)
Printing Office Lot 75 The first paper published in Independence, The Evening and the Morning Star, appeared from the Mormon press located on the west side of South Liberty Street in June 1832. W.W. Phelps, the church printer, and his family resided here. On July 20, 1833, locals demanded a halt to publication of the paper. After Phelps declined an ultimatum to the county, the press was thrown into the street. Large galley sheets of the church’s Book of Commandments were removed and placed in an old log stable behind the building. A. Sidney Gilbert’s nieces, Mary Elizabeth and Caroline, risked their lives to successfully rescue some of the galley sheets. A large tree trunk was forced through the lower windows of the printing office and used to wrench the brick building from its foundation. The roof was drawn into the street. The press was heavily damaged and the office rendered unusable. For several days following the July 20, 1833 attack on the printing office, church members were hunted and abused. Other businesses of the church members and their private homes were substantially damaged. A compromise temporarily halted the violence, and church members agreed to move from the county by the following spring. The printing building was later repaired and occupied until about 1930.
9)
Log Courthouse Present Location, Kansas Avenue
Original Location, Lot 59 This building was constructed as Jackson County’s first courthouse in 1827 by enslaved labor. The county built a new brick courthouse on the Public Square in 1830. In February 1832, Mormon merchant A. Sidney Gilbert purchased the vacated building in the name of the firm of Gilbert and Whitney for $371. It served as the home of the extended Gilbert family including niece Mary Elizabeth Rollins. It was also the location of a church mercantile business and storehouse. In November 1832, Gilbert relocated the church store activities to the Square on Lot 51, but his family continued to reside in the former log courthouse. The structure was moved to its present Kansas Avenue location in 1916 for preservation purposes.
11) Boggs Home Lot 5
In 1831, County Clerk Lilburn W. Boggs’ home was located on the northwest corner of Maple and Lynn. Following the arrival of the Mormons, missionary Peter Whitmer, Jr. began working as a tailor offering the latest eastern fashions. Boggs furnished some space in his home for Whitmer’s tailoring trade. Alexander Doniphan, a Clay County lawyer of growing repute wrote, “Peter Whitmer was a tailor and I employed him to make me a suit of clothes.”
Missouri Mormon Walking Tour
13) 1827 Jail Lot 2
10) Log Courthouse
lilburn w. boggs
The 1827 county jail was located at the back of the lot at the southeast corner of present-day Main and Truman. An outside stairway to the upper room was the only way to enter the hewn log structure 16 x 16 feet square. Prominent Mormons, A. Sidney Gilbert, William McLellin, John Corrill, and Isaac Morley, were jailed in the lower dungeon in November 1833. A decade later, Orrin Porter Rockwell was held in the second jail built on this site. The present building on this site was a city fire station and today serves as the Truman Home ticket office. When the two other cultures clashed again in the fall of 1833, armed conflict highlighted the violence. Church leaders in Independence were arrested following a battle between opposing sides in Christian Whitmer’s cornfield in Kaw Township. A party of Mormons, under the leadership of Lyman Wight, on their way to aid jailed church leaders were met by and surrendered to the local militia just west of town on present day Lexington. By means of night raids and frightened violence, citizens, emboldened by disarming the Mormons, forced church members to flee the county for their lives. The largest group of disciples fled north and crossed the Missouri as quickly as possible. Survivors endured the remainder of the season huddled in makeshift shelters along the cottonwood bottoms in Clay County. The Mormon stay in Clay County spanned two years, while hope for a return to their Jackson County lands faded. A new sanctuary was found in 1836. Caldwell County, a special county just for the Mormons, was carved from northern Ray County. Forced into flight again, the church was expelled from the state following the 1838 “Mormon War.”
Joseph Smith, jr.
14) Boggs Home Lot 131
12) Noland House Lot 10
A popular inn, the Noland House was located on the northwest corner of Main and Maple. In 1838 Joseph Smith and Mormon leaders were held in this hotel under house arrest while awaiting trial. Occasionally free to walk about the town, the prisoners visited the Temple Lot. Parley P. Pratt wrote, “When we saw it last it was a noble forest but our enemies had since robbed it of every vestige of timber, and it now lay desolate, or clothed with grass and weeds…While at Independence we were once or twice invited to dine with General Wilson and some others which we did.”
Lilburn W. Boggs lived in a small house facing south Spring Street in Independence following his term as Governor of the State of Missouri. While Governor, Boggs issued the infamous Extermination Order of 27 October 1838 that led to the expulsion of over 5,000 Mormons from the state of Missouri. Boggs’ home was also the site of the alleged assassination attempt by Orrin Porter Rockwell on May 6, 1842. Rockwell was later tried and acquitted. Many communities have gained valuable lessons from a difficult past. Today, Independence enjoys cultural diversity and cooperation between many groups and organizations. 15) National Frontier Trails Museum
As you complete the walking trail with site number 14, we suggest that you cross the tracks to the south and tour the National Frontier Trails Museum. Here you will see numerous exhibits about the trip west on the trails by emigrants, explorers, Mormons and business adventurers. An excellent film on the Mormon Battalion is available for viewing on request.
THE MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION P.O. Box 3186, Independence, Missouri 64055 www.mmff.net Mormon walking trail is a joint project of the City of Independence, Missouri, and MMFF. MMFF is a nonsectarian, not-for-profit group dedicated to the promotion and understanding of local history. Drawings ©1999 Henry K. Inouye Jr.
For more information contact the Independence Tourism Department (816) 325-7890 • VisitIndependence.com VISIT INDEPENDENCE , MISSOURI