Mormons in Amboy
CITY:
Amboy
COUNTY:
Lee
DEDICATED BY:
Lee County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
June 15, 1974 at 5:00:00 AM
The marker is located in Amboy, mounted on the west side of the Track Side East Tavern (the original Goldman’s Hall), across from the old Illinois Central Depot, on the east side of East Avenue, just north of Main Street.
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was established in 1852 in southern Wisconsin. On April 6, 1860, Joseph Smith II, son of the Mormon founder, was ordained President-Prophet of the Reorganized Church. The ceremony was held at Goldman’s Hall, which stood on this site at Amboy. A Mormon congregation had been organized here about 1840. Smith headed the Reorganized Church until his death in 1914. Church Headquarters was founded at Plano, Illinois in 1866, moved to Lamoni, Iowa, in 1881 and to Independence, Missouri, in 1921.