Skip to content
Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

And now for some real family history!

chanson, May 14, 2009

That’s right, you no longer have to settle for silly second and third-hand stories about the Aurora Branch. Now it’s time to hear about it from the horse’s mouth!

What do you remember about those days? Climbing the stairs to the second floor of the Odd Fellows Hall where the branch met for about 20 years? Attending meetings in the Seventh Day Adventist church on Plum Street? Holding missionary farewells at Lincoln Elementary School or Allen School?

If any of you know anyone who was part of the Aurora, Illinois branch (1932 to 1965), please have them visit this new blog about the Old Aurora Branch to share their own memories. You’ll be contributing to a fun portrait of an interesting part of Mormon history: The growth of early “mission field” offshoots from the SLC-based church.

Genealogy LDS History Mission Field

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

a little black e-book for Mormons

July 22, 2010July 20, 2010

Ever wanted to meet a Jew turned Mormon? How about a female, in her mid-20s, living in South America, who is a former Buddhist? I haven’t, really, but a new feature on Mormon.org allows you to search for them: Meet Mormons. (FYI, lots of former Jews, no former Buddhists meeting…

Read More

LDS Doubt in the NY Times

July 21, 2013February 20, 2022

Well, this should be interesting.  The NY Times has a story published on the web yesterday discussing the ongoing brouhaha in Sweden involving members who have had a crisis of faith. There is a bullet-pointed list of major concerns: –  Why does the church always portray Joseph Smith translating the…

Read More

Sitting on a shelf gathering dust

December 14, 2010

Food storage is a good example of the divide between liberal and conservative schools of thought. Not all LDS believe in keeping a three months’ supply of food, of course. While it’s been discussed as recently as 2007, I think food storage was always a “soft” commandment. Like journaling and…

Read More

Comments (4)

  1. aerin says:
    May 15, 2009 at 7:13 am

    Fascinating! Thanks for sharing chanson!

  2. chanson says:
    May 15, 2009 at 7:25 am

    Don’t thank me, thank my mom. 😉

  3. Sabayon says:
    May 15, 2009 at 10:52 am

    Wow that’s great! I love the term “mission field Mormon” it seems so rough and ready.
    Incidentally the branch where I went to college went above an ice cream shop before the Quakers’ meeting (the early meeting time was widely attributed to their missionary failures with the town’s large student population), so you can have experiences like this even now!

  4. chanson says:
    May 16, 2009 at 12:24 am

    I love the term “mission field Mormon” it seems so rough and ready.

    Yep, we can take on those “Utah Mormons” any day of the week! 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mormon Alumni Association Books

Latest Comments:

  1. Cara B. Klein on My conspiracy theory #2April 26, 2025

    Wow, I had never thought about it in that way before You have really opened my eyes to a new…

  2. chanson on LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binariesApril 16, 2025

    The haiku at the end is lovely. Sounds like a great book!

  3. Donna Banta on LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binariesApril 14, 2025

    I imagine anyone who has tried to change the church from within will identify with Kitchen's story. I especially like…

  4. Johnny Townsend on LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binariesApril 14, 2025

    This was a painful review to read. For many years, I held the same hope, that the LDS church would…

  5. LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binaries – Main Street Plaza on It’s Time to Vote for the 2024 Brodie Awards!!!April 14, 2025

    […] sincere acceptance is not a priority. Fortunately, this is what he exemplifies in his memoir, the Brodie-nominated Boughs of…

8: The Mormon Proposition Acceptance of Gays Add new tag Affirmation angry exmormon awards Book Reviews BYU comments Conformity Dallin H. Oaks DAMU disaffected mormon underground Dustin Lance Black Ex-Mormon Exclusion policy Excommunicated exmormon faith Family feminism Gay Gay Love Gay Marriage Gay Relationships General Conference Happiness Homosexual Homosexuality LDS LGBT LGBTQ Link Bomb missionaries Modesty Mormon Mormon Alumni Association Mormonism motherhood peace politics Polygamy priesthood ban Sunstone temple

Awards

William Law X-Mormon of the Year:

  • 2023: Adam Steed
  • 2022: David Archuleta
  • 2021: Jeff T. Green
  • 2020: Jacinda Ardern
  • 2019: David Nielsen
  • 2018: Sam Young
  • 2017: Savannah
  • 2016: Jeremy Runnells
  • 2015: John Dehlin
  • 2014: Kate Kelly
  • 2013: J. Seth Anderson and Michael Ferguson
  • 2012: David Tweede
  • 2011: Joanna Brooks
  • 2010: Monica Bielanko
  • 2009: Walter Kirn

Other Cool Sites!

WasMormon.org
©2025 Main Street Plaza | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes