“In the year of 1836, the county of Caldwell was formed and designated by the Missouri State legislature as a place for the Latter Day Saints to gather. Saints, previously driven out of Independence, Missouri, left the temporary refuge they had found in Clay County, Missouri, and moved into Caldwell County. Within two years a city of some 3,000-5,000 people had risen on this site. Others bought and homesteaded land in the surrounding area. An excavation was made, and corner stones were laid for a temple immediately across the road to the northeast of this marker. The first school in the county, built of logs, that also served as the first county court house, stood in southwest quarter of the city. Joseph Smith's home stood about 150 yards southwest of this marker.”
    In the fall of 1838, trouble erupted between the Saints and their neighbors, and after considerable bloodshed some 12,000 church members in this area were forced to abandon their farms and homes. They fled to the neighboring state of Illinois. The evicted church group eventually settled in a city that became known as Nauvoo. There they took comfort in a prophetic promise that those who were faithful would return they and their children, to this area of Missouri. The Far West area today shows few signs of the large city that the Saints once built.
    One hundred twenty-five years later, on Sunday afternoon, November 3, 1963, a crowd estimated at 300, including a number from the Independence area, attended a historical marker dedication held on the grounds of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Chapel (now known as the Community of Christ) at Far West, in west-central Caldwell County, Missouri. The Far West Church is southeast of Cameron on Highway D and just east of Wallace State Park. Today, the Community of Christ building appears as a typical country church standing some distance from the nearest house. The Far West congregation was reorganized in 1873 and the building, remodeled in the early 1960s, was constructed in 1905. Attendance at the Far West RLDS Congregationaveraged about 60 on any given Sunday in the 1960s. During that decade, there were also congregations nearby at Hamilton and Cameron.
    John Blackstock, of St. Joseph, Missouri, at that time president of the RLDS Far West Stake, was in charge of the ceremonies. Other Stake officials assisted in the unveiling and dedicating of the aluminum marker that commemorates the successes and difficulties encountered by the early disciples in the Far West area from 1836 to 1838. Joseph Albus, counselor to Blackstock, Evangelist Evan Agenstein and Hudson Grundy, Stake Bishop, assisted Elder Blackstock in the program. All four of these gentlemen resided in St. Joseph, Missouri at the time.

John Blackstock, W. Wallace Smith dedicate the RLDS (Community of Christ) Far West historical marker, 3 November 1963
    W. Wallace Smith, Church president and grandson of the church's founder, was also present as the principal speaker for the marker unveiling. President Smith's address paid tribute to the perseverance, devotion and sacrifice of the early members. He said there were no longer ill feelings over the early anti-LDS incidents. He also pointed out that the movement has always stressed education. The historical marker stands across the street, south of the site of the basement of the house of the Lord, where members of the early church built Far West's first frame schoolhouse in 1838.
    The ceremony also commemorated the 125th anniversary of the Haun's Mill Massacre that occurred on October 30, 1838. The mill site is about seven miles east of Kingston, Missouri.