The 25th May 1847 saw the birth of John Alexander Dowie, the Scots-born religious leader. Dowie, a highly controversial but charismatic faith healer, founded the Christian Catholic Church at Zion, Illinois, where around 5,000 followers created a unique community and followed his teaching.

This included a belief in the power of prayer in the healing of disease: Zion existed without any doctors or pharmacists. Smoking, drinking and the eating of pork were banned. Dowie, the self-proclaimed apostle Elijah the Restorer, was expelled from the Church in 1905 after he had become increasingly eccentric, and the community fell into financial ruin. He died a year later.