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The Merchants

The French traveler Chevalier, who published a travel book on American society the year Nauvoo was founded, could not resist the impulse to analyze the American penchant for merchandising and business speculation. Considering the nation's Puritan beginnings, he might have come close to the truth when he theorized: "Public opinion and the pulpit forbid sensual gratifications, wine, women, and the display of a princely luxury; cards and dice are equally prohibited; the American, therefore, has recourse to business for the strong emotions which he requires to make him feel life. He launches with delight into the ever-moving sea of speculation."

Unfortunately, this type of speculation resulted in the severe national depression of 1837, only two years before Nauvoo was settled. Although the depression, with its resulting lack of specie and investment capital, affected the settlement and growth of Nauvoo, it did not appear so to visitors. A Methodist preacher who visited the Mormon town in 1843 reported the place was more alive with business than any place he had visited since the beginning of the depression.

One reason the minister might have been impressed with the business activity in Nauvoo was that it extended over much of the city. There was apparently no zoning in the Mormon capital and thus no single business district was well defined. Businesses and homes were combined throughout the metropolitan area. The term business district usually referred to the merchants on the hill or to their competitors on the flats. On the hill where the temple was being constructed, the businesses that stretched along Mulholland Street were serious rivals to the ones grouped around Main Street on the flats. The businesses in the upper town, many of them owned by non-Mormons, had been built there because the area was drier and more healthful and the lots were cheaper.

Some bitterness developed between the Mulholland Street merchants and the Main Street merchants, several of whom were Church leaders. The Prophet's Mansion House and general store were located on the flats, as was the planned Nauvoo House. Having the wharves and water power, the industrial and business base of Nauvoo concentrated on the flats, but the hill section did have such well-known establishments as Adams Boot and Shoe Repair Shop, Haven's Drug Store, Power & Adams' General Store, Davis & Williams' Tailor Shop, and Horne's Comb Factory.

In the days before refrigeration, one important feature of any city was the market where farmers could bring their fresh produce and meat to sell to the townspeople. The Nauvoo city council considered building two city markets, but the Prophet convinced the council to build only one. He felt that since the upper part of the town had the temple, the lower town should have the market. It was to be established on the rising ground on Main Street, about one quarter mile north of the river. The upper town was served by produce wagons.