On March 17, 1842, 20 women, ranging from teenagers to widows, and Joseph Smith gathered together on the second floor of a newly opened general store. They met with the intent to establish a women’s organization that would, among other things, look after the poor and teach moral reform. It was on that second floor where the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo began. That room in the Red Brick Store was also home to the newly created Nauvoo Masonic lodge and was where the first members of the Church received their endowment. From these events alone, this small, brick store serves as an important landmark in Latter-day Saint history.
