Perhaps the most audacious article about Mormons in New York City that I have discovered is an 1869 article in the New York Times that claimed that a Mormon Temple would soon be built in the city and that $500,000 had been set aside for its construction.
Only it wasn’t a temple the way Mormons today think of it.
When news of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith reached New York City and was published in the major New York newspapers on July 8th, Church members in the city were initially cautious about the news. Reports of Joseph Smith’s death or some other tragedy had appeared before and turned out to be incorrect.
The Latter Day Saint newspaper in New York, The Prophet, had already cautioned members on June 29th (probably because of the scandalous news reports similar to what was published in the Nauvoo Expositor, which were then reaching New York City) “not to credit the many tales afloat respecting our people, we have had no intelligence of trouble, and doubt very much the truth of these statements.”
But church members received confirmation of the martyrdom by July 20th, which left them wondering how to mourn for the fallen prophet.
"The Nauvoo Temple"
by C.C.A. Christensen
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On Christmas Day, 1845, the New York Tribune encouraged its readers to visit a “Model of New Haven,” which opened that day in the Granite Building, on the corner of Broadway and Chambers street. The exhibition, which cost 25 cents to see, also included models of a number of public buildings and “the Mormon Temple at Nauvoo.”
This past weekend as I added newspaper articles to the website, I came across a fascinating story about the divorce of the Glovers in 1892. The initial article mentioned that the couple attended the Mormon Church that met at Rockaway Avenue and Fulton Street. Here, I thought, was more evidence of LDS Church meetings before the Eastern States Mission was reopened in 1893.