The original Red Brick Store opened for business on January 5, 1842, with Joseph Smith as owner and proprietor. The main floor was a general store. At the back on this floor, Bishop Newell K. Whitney had an office where people could pay their bills and tithing.

On the second floor was a small office for Joseph Smith and a large meeting room. Council meetings were held there as were Masonic Lodge meetings and the organizational meetings of the "Female Relief Society" with Emma Smith as president. Also in this room, "Endowments" as later practiced in the Nauvoo Temple were introduced and Joseph Smith III (son of Joseph Smith Jr. and church president and prophet from 1860 to 1914) was designated by his father as his successor. By the fall of 1860 the Olive Branch, an early congregation of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ) was meeting on the second floor.

By 1890 the building had deteriorated to the point that it was town down. It was reconstructed on the original site and open to the public in April 1980.

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Show me all markers in:  Nauvoo, IL  |  Hancock County  |  62354  |  Illinois  |  United States of America

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