Architectural Currents on the Mississippi River Frontier: Nauvoo, Illinois
1960; University of California Press; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/988025
ISSN2150-5926
Autores Tópico(s)American Constitutional Law and Politics
ResumoSince colonial days the United States has proved to be a congenial place for those seeking an opportunity to develop social and religious theories on virgin prairie soil. With the ever-present frontier, excellent lands and freedom to experiment were available for these groups. The long list of communitarian experiments in the United States, from Plockhoy's Commonwealth of 1663 at what is now Lewes, Delaware, to the Fourier Phalanx of 1858 in Dearborn County, Indiana, is ample evidence of the opportunity presented by the westward-receding frontier.l Near the western boundary of the Northwest Territory three communitarian experiments were begun during the middle of the nineteenth century. Nauvoo, Illinois, was started in 1839, Bishop Hill, Illinois, in 1846, and Amana, Iowa, in 1855. Of the three communities, Nauvoo probably represents the most typical architecture of the time. The converts to Joseph Smith came mainly from the northeastern portion of the republic, and since religious theory had not hardened but was characterized by continued revelations, they reflected the prevailing architectural modes from whence they migrated. In 1846 when the exodus occurred, Nauvoo, as the largest city in Illinois, had an estimated population of 14,000 persons.2 Today the town's estimated population is 1,250 persons with settlement mainly on the high land overlooking the flatland upon which the isolated architectural remnants of the original town now stand. But before the city, its structures, and plan are examined, the antecedents of the Saints need to be sketched.3
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