Built in 1850 in St. James on Beaver Island, Michigan, this small print shop became a vital link to James Strang’s Mormon settlement. After Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, Strang led followers to the island in 1847, and by 1850 several thousand mostly Mormon residents lived in the Beaver Islands. The shop printed the first issue of the Northern Islander on December 12, 1850, along with books that supported the colony’s religious and civic life. After Strang was shot in June 1856 and died weeks later, non-Mormon attackers from mainland Michigan seized the building during the violent expulsion of the island’s Mormon residents.