Willard Richards

Willard Richards wore many hats in early Utah: physician, church historian, newspaper editor, and second counselor to Brigham Young. A New Englander and a self-taught doctor, he was among the vanguard company that first reached this valley in July 1847, and he founded and edited the Deseret News. He is best remembered, though, for a night in Illinois. He was inside Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844, when a mob killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith—and of the men in that room, he alone walked out essentially unharmed.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• This Is The Place Heritage Park — 3.1 mi
  A living history village at the mouth of Emigration Canyon
• Emigration Canyon — 3.7 mi
  The final stretch of trail the Mormon pioneers took into the valley
• Natural History Museum of Utah — 3.9 mi
  A world-class museum built into the foothills above Salt Lake City
• Red Butte Garden — 4.2 mi
  A 100-acre botanical garden with panoramic valley views

More markers nearby

• The Overland Stage — steps away
• Handcart Companies — steps away
• 1997 Sesquicentennial Trekkers — steps away
• Horace A. Sorensen — steps away