Commerce was situated on the high ground, or Hill, facing the Mississippi River. The low ground, or Flats, in between Commerce and the river was unwanted swamp land. Most folks believed it to be unworkable, disease infested, non-fertile river bed. Surely not worth the effort of trying to tame. Especially when there was land to be had on the high ground.

There were just a few log cabins in the sleepy town of Commerce when the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter-Day Saints arrived from Missouri in 1839. They had been forced to leave their homes under religious persecution once again. The search for a peaceful place to raise their families, which had begun in New York, had now reached the banks of the mighty Mississippi River.