Skip to main content
Shedd Aquarium

Nauvoo House

890 Main St,, Nauvoo, IL 62354

Historic Sites

In 1841 a group of investors, led by Church of Latter Day Saints founder Joseph Smith, began a joint-stock company to build a massive hotel called the Nauvoo House.

Slowly over the course of the next few years, the building began to take shape. Construction continued after Joseph's death in 1844, but the walls were not yet three stories high when work stopped in 1846.  Decades later Emma Smith’s second husband, Lewis Bidamon, finished part of the structure and together they operated it as a boarding house called the Riverside Mansion.  It was in this building that Emma Smith Bidamon lived during the last eight years of her life. 

More Information

  • Mon: 9:00am – 5:00pm
  • Tue: 9:00am – 5:00pm
  • Wed: 9:00am – 5:00pm
  • Thu: 9:00am – 5:00pm
  • Fri: 9:00am – 5:00pm
  • Sat: 9:00am – 5:00pm
  • Sun: 1:00pm – 5:00pm

There is a $4.00 preservation fee per person for the guided tour of the Smith homes.

How to find us?

Back to Listings

What's happening nearby...

Nauvoo and British Pageants

Partridge & Mulholland Streets in Downtown Nauvoo •  Jul 08 – Aug 02 @ 7PM

An annual family favorite! Enjoy lively shows by the Nauvoo Performing Missionaries, and experience the majestic Nauvoo Temple on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

Read more about Nauvoo and British Pageants

You might also be interested...

Wilford Woodruff Home

Nauvoo

This is one of the finest and best-preserved brick houses of the 1840s—one of the few homes in Historic Nauvoo furnished with the original inhabitants’ belongings.

Read more about Wilford Woodruff Home

Seventies Hall

Nauvoo

Tour Historic Nauvoo's missionary instruction center and first library, where men and women once gathered to listen to Brigham Young and other Later Day Saints Church…

Read more about Seventies Hall

Trail of Hope

Nauvoo

We invite you to walk along the Trail of Hope on Parley Street where church founders waited in line for their turn to cross the Mississippi…

Read more about Trail of Hope

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get inspired by top travel stories, gain access to exclusive promotions and contests, and discover even more reasons to #EnjoyIllinois.