 Rob S. Clark, trustee of the MHSF, and
Fred E. Woods, executive director stand in front of the marker at Triangle Park in Keokuk, Iowa. |
Mormon Historic Sites Foundation funded a historic marker to be placed at Triangle Park in Keokuk, Iowa. In addition, the Foundation paid for new curbs near the marker at the park. The historical significance of this is that the early Saints in Keokuk helped grade Keokuk's streets.
The placement of the marker commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Mormon emigrant encampment in Keokuk. Many Mormon immigrants came to Keokuk from Britain, Scandinavia, and other areas of Europe in the 1850s.
A newspaper article published on April 26, 1853 in the Keokuk Dispatch read as follows: "A large number of Mormons are now employed in grading the streets of our city. Each man is a 'full team' behind a pick and shovel. A pile of dirt before a dozen or two of these hard fisted, strong fellows is 'nowhere.'The rough places of our city are rapidly becoming smooth and if the Mormons remain here awhile longer, our streets will present quite a different appearance from what they have presented heretofore. We are not sorry to see this improvement going on. Nothing needs improvement worse than the streets of our city."