Whitmer Hotel, frame construction, photo by George E. Anderson, 1907. The structure was built at Far West in 1837, courtesy LDS Family and Church Historical Department, Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah, P725, No. 69.

    The structural remains pictured in this photo are the old Whitmer Hotel near the Far West Temple site. This historical image was captured by George Edward Anderson during his 1907-1908 photographic mission. [See, Holzapfel and Cottle, Church History in Black and White]. This depiction places the hotel on the south side of South Main Street, a principal street of old Far West. The building was located south of the Public Square and directly south of the Temple site. The structure's main entrance faced north, toward the town square and the envisioned Temple.

    John Whitmer helped select the site for Far West. On August 8, 1836, the south half of the town site was entered in his name. The same day, W. W. Phelps entered the north half. Whitmer and Phelps were commissioned to appraise, divide and sell lots for the city. John Whitmer's home was one of the first houses built in the new city. It was the first frame building in the new town. [Evan Fry letter, to Ella Turner, granddaughter of Hiram Page, 25 January 1949, John Whitmer Biographical Folder, Community of Christ Library-Archives]
    One source says, Whitmer built “The second house in Far West.” The building was later used as a hotel and subsequently a stable. [Viator, "Far West," The Old Mormon Settlement in Missouri: How it Appeared Thirteen Years Ago and What It is To-day, A Sketch of Its History. Daily Morning Herald, Friday, January 1, 1875].
    What became known as “The Whitmer hotel stood until about 1900, and was then used as a stable on a nearby farm.” [Bertha Booth, A Short History of Caldwell County, Missouri, 35].
    When John began using this building as a hotel he erected a small log house to the east. In 1838, John's family was forced to leave Far West following his expulsion from the church as a alleged dissenter. Other church members took over operation of the hotel and the location is remembered as Burk's Tavern during the dark days of Far West. Occupying militia took over the tavern as its headquarters following the siege and fall of the city. John M. Burk wrote, “I here by Certify that General John Clark and his aid at their arrival at far West in Caldwell Co Misorie [sic] came to my Tavern stand and without my Liave [sic] Pitched their Markees in my yard and did take my wood and hay to furnish the same and did bring their horses in also and without my Leave take hay for them and did take Posession [sic] of my house and use it for a council house and did place a strong guard around it so as to hinder any person from going in or out and I myself was not permitted to go in.” [Clark, Mormon Redress Petitions, 148-149].
    Young Chapman Duncan spent the night of the surrender of Far West at Burk's tavern. In the morning, “Joseph the Prophet was brought up in a wagon with the balance near to us at the tavern. I went up to the wagon...” [Chapman Duncan, biography, 38, MS 6936, LDS Church Historical Department Archives].

As the area appears today. Photo by Erin Jennings, 2003

    General Clark delivered his famous speech from the doorstep of this building and Church members were confined for a time in the tavern during the occupation. Ebenezer Robinson wrote, “Several other brethren were brought and placed in our company, until they obtained near fifty. They marched us to a hotel, before the door of which two columns of soldiers were stationed, extending out about forty feet from the door, facing each other, with their guns poised so their muzzles were about breast high, between which we marched into the hotel. After we had been taken to the hotel General Clark made "a speech to the brethren on the Public Square." [Robinson, The Return, 2 (March 1890)].
    Eventually the Church and most members were expelled from Missouri. After the Saints fled, John Whitmer returned and reacquired his former lands and buildings.The County seat was removed to Kingston in 1843 and Far West reverted to farmland. John made his living by farming, raising stock. He also reopened his hotel near the Temple lot. John and his children continued operating the hotel for many years. Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith stopped at the hotel in 1878, shortly after the death of John Whitmer. [Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith interview, 7-8 September 1878, Richmond, Missouri, Deseret News, 16 November 1878, from Lyndon W. Cook, ed., David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness (Grandin Book Company, 1993), 45].
    Perhaps the best physical description of old Far West, was left by George Edward Anderson, through his 1907 photographs and the clipped language of his observations recorded in his diary. "May 16, 1907, Thursday, Far West[.] John Whitmer's hotel just south of the temple. See old barn. Wamsley Hotel east of John Whitmer's hotel. Joseph Smith home southwest of temple sixty rods [993 feet]. "Cellar kitchen [blank]." Just southwest and across the street from temple block is the Reorganized Church, dedicated November 18, 1906. . . Public hall was just across the street, south from the temple lot. Old apple tree marks the spot. J. D. Whitmer saw it tore down because [he was] afraid [it] would fall on the stock. Ten rods [about 165 feet] southwest across the street from the temple block was the "Committee Store." Two hundred houses in Far West. Hundreds of foundations when the Mormons left." [Richard Holzapfel, Jeffery Cottle, Ted Stoddard, eds., Church History in Black and White: George Edward Anderson's Photographic Mission to Latter-day Saint Historical Sites (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center Brigham Young University, 1995), 80].
    John Whitmer's daughter, Sarah Elizabeth “was born in her father's hotel at Far West near where the [RLDS] church stands,” [letter from a niece of Ella Johnson, Kingston, Missouri, to C. Edward Miller, 26 May 1932, Accretion Papers, P68, f80, Community of Christ Library-Archives].
    John Whitmer's log home and farm was also located along South Main Street, south of this main road about ˝ mile east of the Temple site.
    Brigham H. Roberts visited Far West in 1885 and observed: “Far West has been abandoned. In the fall of 1838, it was a thriving town of some three thousand inhabitants, but today nothing remains except the house of the Prophet Joseph Smith, now owned by D. F. Kerr, and one portion of the Whitmer hotel, now used as a stable. This is all that remains of the building at Far West, erected by the hands of the Saints.” [B.H. Roberts, Missouri Persecutions, published in The Contributor].