The Joseph Smith Memorial Monument and Royalton's "Mormon Affair" : Religion, Community, Memory, and Politics in Progressive Vermont
Vermont History
Summer-Fall 2005
73
2005
117-151
In 1905, a Progressive-Era conflict between the two villages Royalton and South Royalton was largely shaped by the erection of the Joseph Smith Memorial Monument. Royalton residents, who felt threatened by the political and economic growth of South Royalton, associated the rising prominence of South Royalton with Mormonism and its new monument. Erekson outlines the controversy over this "Mormon affair" among residents of the villages and reports many of their opinions and reactions to the Latter-day Saint movement