With a 2008 population of 110,440, Independence is the fourth largest city in Missouri and is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan area. It is located on the south bank of the Missouri River, near the western edge of Missouri. It was founded on March 29, 1827 near where the Kansas River converges with the Missouri River and soon became the county seat for Jackson County. Since the town was near the farthest point westward where steamboats and other cargo vessels could travel, it grew quickly to become an important frontier community. Since it became the departure point of the California, Oregon, and Santa Fe Trails, it was nicknamed the “Queen City of the Trails.”

U.S. President Harry S. Truman is Independence’s most famous citizen. He grew up in Independence, and was first elected to public office there in 1922 as a Jackson County Court judge. He and his wife Bess returned to Independence after serving his two terms as President and built his Presidential Library & Museum just blocks from his home. Their simple white frame house remains as it did at his death in 1972.

For Mormon historians, the Missouri story began on August 2, 1831, when Joseph Smith joined a small group of Latter Day Saints at an isolated site twelve miles west of Independence and laid the foundation of Zion. Within months, hundreds arrived, bought land, cleared farms, and established homes. By 1833, armed conflict broke out with other Missourians and they were forced north across the Missouri where they settled temporarily. During the winter of 1838-39, the Mormons were driven out of Missouri, crossed the Mississippi River and settled in Nauvoo, IL. Today, seventeen different restoration churches exist in the Independence area. In 1867, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) was the first to return to Independence and purchased the temple lot properties, including the dedicated temple site. After more than three decades of their members returning to Independence the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Community of Christ), moved its official headquarters there in 1920.

In January, MHA President Ron Romig recognized the countless attractions in the Independence area and made the following recommendations:

Conference attendees will find many visitor amenities and historical sites in the Kansas City area. Independence’s many tourist attractions feature the Truman Home and Library and the National Frontier Trail Museum. Attractions in neighboring Clay County consist of Liberty Jail Visitor Center, a marker placed at the site of Alexander Doniphan’s home, Fishing River, and the Michael Arthur farm. Attendees will also find various Ray County attractions nearby: Hiram Page’s grave various Whitmer family sites, the Alexander Doniphan statue and the Three Witnesses Marker in Richmond, Missouri, and a Mormon related Richmond Jails marker. Caldwell County’s attractions feature Far West Temple Lot and Burial Ground, Haun’s Mill and the County Courthouse at Kingston. Davies County’s attractions spotlight Adam-ondi-Ahman and Gallatin, the site of the Election Day Battle. Notable Kansas City area tourist attractions include the World War I Memorial, the 1856 Steam Boat Arabia Museum, Kansas City Union Station, Worlds of Fun, Kansas City Zoo, Kansas City Plaza, the Sprint Center and the American Jazz Museum. Ambitious participants may wish to visit the Cowdery Grave markers at Southwest City, Missouri, search out where Parley P. Pratt, Morris Phelps, and King Follett were incarcerated at Columbia, Missouri, or travel across the state to see the St. Louis Gateway Arch or the St. Louis Mormon Temple.

CONTENTS

• President’s Welcome
• Conference Hotel
• Preliminary Conference Program (link opens 1.6MB pdf file)
• Registration Form (link opens 120kb pdf file)
• Advertisers and Exhibitors Information
• Pre-Conference Tours
• Post Conference Tour
• Suggested Readings

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

The 2010 Mormon History Association Conference in the Independence, Missouri, area represents yet another chapter in the continuing Restoration story and the importance of Missouri to the movement. You may become part of the story yourself by taking time to stop and spend a moment at some of the area’s historical locations. For example, I urge you to find the sidewalk marker commemorating the site of Edward Partridge’s 1832-33 log house located northeast of the Community of Christ Temple and across Lexington Avenue from the offices of the Remnant Church. The sites of Bishop Partridge’s counselors Isaac Morley’s and John Corrill’s homes also lie nearby. While at the marker, contemplate for a moment the tense scene outside the Partridge family home in 1833 when angry men demanded that Edward accompany them to the public square to be tarred and feathered. Edward’s impressionable daughter Emily recalled the following details about this event:

Mother sent me with Harriet to the spring [at what is today the NW corner of River and W. Maple] for water, when I looked back and saw the house surrounded by an armed mob. We remained at the spring until they had gone. . . . We did not know what they were going to do with him; it might be kill him, as they had threatened. . . . I was standing by the window looking the way the mob had gone, thinking of father, when I saw two men coming towards the house. One . . . was Albert Jackson, a young man. He was carrying a hat, coat, and vest. The other I thought was an Indian, and as they were coming right to the house, I was so frightened that I ran upstairs. When they came in, it was our dear father who had been tarred and feathered. . . . They had covered him with tar from head to foot except his face and the inside of his hands. -Emily Dow Partridge Smith Young, “Reminiscence”, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 7, 1884, typescript, HBLL.

Also, at this location, pause to consider the feelings of church members who spent an anxious night encamped nearby on the Independence Temple Lot during the early winter of 1834 after they had been driven from their homes. The next day, opposite Partridge’s house in the middle of what is today Lexington Avenue, church men led by Lyman Wight from Kaw Township surrendered to Colonel Pitcher and the Jackson County Militia after marching to Independence in an effort to aid their beleaguered brethren.

You may discover locations with momentous stories beneath your very footsteps throughout your stay in the Independence area. The streets of Independence are the byways where giants of Mormon history walked: Algernon Sidney and Mary Elizabeth Rollins, his niece; the extended family of David, John, Peter, and Jacob Whitmer; Oliver and Elizabeth Ann Cowdery; William W. and Sally Phelps; Parley P. and Thankful Pratt; Orrin P. Rockwell; David Pettigrew; Vienna Jackman; Duncan Chapman; and hundreds more.

Engaging in this conference may also lead you to encounter Mormon history’s living giants. The program’s contents reveal that the 2010 conference has engaged the very brightest and most eager students and professionals in today’s field. In addition, powerhouse papers and panels as well as a variety of informative plenary sessions also promise to enrich our experience.

Here are some highlights to which you may look forward: Community of Christ President Stephen M. Veazey will be present to extend greetings to attendees during our Thursday evening conference opener. The plenary immediately following, which features Craig Campbell and John Taylor, will examine ways various Restoration traditions view Independence, Missouri. Friday morning’s plenary speaker, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, will address understandings of Mormon family and kinship as revealed through nineteenth century diaries. 2010 marks also the 25th anniversary of women’s ordination within the Community of Christ. Community of Christ Counselor in the First Presidency, President Becky Savage, will reflect upon the impact of this practice upon this community during Friday’s luncheon. On Saturday morning, drawing upon her well-known research on women in American religious history, Tanner Lecturer Catherine Brekus will address the role of women in early Mormonism. Following Saturday’s luncheon business meeting, Claudia Bushman and friends will offer a short excerpt preview of the LDS women reader’s theater, with the entire performance to be offered in a later separate conference session. The conference will conclude with an exciting worship event prepared for us by Richard Clothier, Jan Kraybill, Nathan Smith, and Alice Beebe. Join us Sunday morning in the sanctuary of the Community of Christ Temple to explore the theme: “Songs for the Saints: The Hymns from Zion’s Homeland.”

Thank you for joining us for the 2010 MHA Conference. It is our sincere hope that this conference provides you with many meaningful opportunities for scholarly fellowship and stimulating intellectual exchange.

With profound appreciation and anticipation,

Ron Romig
MHA President 2009-2010

CONFERENCE HOTEL

Holiday Inn – CoCo Key Water Resort (formerly the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex Hotel) is located in Kansas City only seven miles from downtown Independence, off Interstates 70 and 435, and across the interstate from the Truman Sports complex, home to the Arrowhead and Kaufman Stadiums where the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals play. It is located just 19 miles from the Kansas City International Airport (MCI). Special conference rate is $109 per night for a single/double/triple/quadruple room.

Hotel reservations should be made directly with the Holidiay Inn by calling 816-737-0200, option 3 - reservations or email pschoenrade@hicocokey.com   To guarantee you make your reservation at the right Holiday Inn, we do not recommend you call the Holiday Inn 800 number or on-line registration system. Make certain you identify yourself as being with the Mormon History Association. Cut-off date for the conference rate is April 30, 2010.  Cut-off date for the conference rate has been extended to May 7, 2010.

Hotel parking is free. Missouri’s largest indoor water resort is located onsite. The CoCo Key Water Resort is over 55,000 square feet of indoor water oasis for the entire family.

Attendees to the Conference may enjoy the water resort for $5 a day.

ADVERTISING AND EXHIBITING INFORMATION

Potential exhibitors and advertisers should contact Pat Scott at the MHA Office (801-521-6565) for exhibit space at the 2010 MHA Conference in Independence and/or advertising space in the 2010 Preliminary and Final Programs. Download the registration form, complete, and return. To be included in the preliminary program this form and actual ads must be received no later than February 4th.