Temple Lot

Infobox religious building
building_name =Temple Lot
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image_size =250px
caption =A view of the Temple Lot with the Church of Christ in the background
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location =200 South River Boulevard, Independence, Missouri
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latitude =39.090863
longitude =-94.427989
religious_affiliation =Church of Christ (Temple Lot)
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website = [http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/]
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groundbreaking =1831 (cornerstones laid by Joseph Smith)
year_completed =Incomplete
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materials =The Temple Lot is a planned temple location in the Latter Day Saint movement in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. The two-acre (0.8 ha) site was dedicated in 1831 by movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. to be a New Jerusalem or 'City of Zion' after he received a revelation stating it would be the first gathering spot of the Saints during the Last Days.H. Michael Marquardt, [http://www.xmission.com/~research/about/temple.htm "The Independence Temple of Zion"] , 1997; retrieved January 24, 2008] It is currently a field covered with grass with a non-temple church building on it, which serves as the headquarters of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot).

Overview

Smith and his followers were evicted from Missouri in 1839 before a temple could be built on the Temple Lot. Ownership of the property has been subject of court challenges among some sects of the Latter Day Saint movement that have resulted from the succession crisis following the death of Smith.

The Temple Lot is owned by the small Church of Christ (Temple Lot), which in 1867 acquired the land. The temple has never been built, though there was a failed attempt in 1929 by the Temple Lot church. [ [http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/history.html History of the Church of Christ] ; retrieved January 20, 2008.] The Temple Lot church has its headquarters on the site but has not built a formal temple. Its building has been burned by arsonists several times. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) has stated that it will not cooperate with other Latter Day Saint organizations in building a temple, nor will it sell the Temple Lot.

In 1891, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church), founded by Smith's son Joseph Smith III, sued in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri to take possession of the property. It won in lower court but lost in the Court of Appeals on the basis that it had waited more than 20 years to make a claim. The United States Supreme Court refused to review the case. [Ron Romig, [http://www.jwha.info/jctls12.htm "The Temple Lot Suit After 100 Years"] , "JWHA Journal", 12 (1992):3–15] ]

The RLDS Church, now known as the Community of Christ, owns the bulk of the original 63 acre (26 ha) tract around the Temple Lot which had been purchased in the 1830s by Latter Day Saint bishop Edward Partridge to be the central common and sacred areas according the Plat of Zion. The Community of Christ has its world headquarters in the adjoining area which is referred as the greater Temple Lot. In 1958, the RLDS Church opened the Auditorium to the south of Temple Lot. In 1994, it opened the Independence Temple to its east.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) operates an interpretive visitor center one block east of the Temple Lot.

History of the property

election of the site

In March 1831, Joseph Smith received a revelation which stated that a New Jerusalem was to be established in the United States. [Joseph Smith, Jr. et al. (eds.) (1835). "Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints" (Kirtland, Ohio), [http://saintswithouthalos.com/s/d&c_45.phtml section 15] .] In June 1831, Smith received a revelation that the New Jerusalem was to be established somewhere on the western border of Missouri, "on the borders by the Lamanites (Native Americans)." [Joseph Smith et al. (eds.) (1833). "Book of Commandments", [http://saintswithouthalos.com/s/d&c_54.phtml section 56] .] Independence is six miles (10 km) east of Kaw Point on the current Missouri–Kansas border, which formed the north–south line west of which all tribes were to be removed in the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

On July 20, 1831, Smith presented another revelation on the subject, with more precise details:

" [T] he land of Missouri ... is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints: wherefore this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. ... Behold the place which is now called Independence is the center place, and the a spot for the temple is lying westward upon a lot which is not far from the court house: wherefore it is wisdom that the land should be purchased by the saints; and also every tract lying westward, even unto the line [the Missouri-Kansas border] running directly between Jew [Native Americans] and Gentile. And also every tract bordering by the prairies, inasmuch as my disciples are enabled to buy lands. Behold this is wisdom, that they may obtain it for an everlasting inheritance. [Joseph Smith, Jr. et al. (eds.) (1835). "Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints" (Kirtland, Ohio), [http://saintswithouthalos.com/s/d&c_57.phtml section 27] .]

Smith's vision of acquiring every tract of land between Independence and the Kansas border was soon to draw the ire of non-Latter Day Saint settlers in what is modern-day downtown Kansas City.

On August 3, 1831, Smith, Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Frederick G. Williams, William W. Phelps, Martin Harris, and Joseph Coe laid a stone as the northeast cornerstone of the anticipated temple. On December 19, 1831 Edward Partidge purchased 63 acres, including the Temple Lot. During the purchase, Smith was to reveal: "The temple shall be reared in this generation, for verely this generation shall not pass away until an house shalt be built unto the Lord and a cloud shall rest upon it.

Because the temple has never been built, Smith's prediction that it would be reared "in this generation" has stirred debate. [For a critical approach to Smith's prophecy, see [http://www.irr.org/mit/jsfalpro.html "Failed Prophecies of Joseph Smith"] , Institute for Religious Research, retrieved January 24, 2008. For an apologetic approach, see [http://en.fairmormon.org/Independence_temple_to_be_built_%22in_this_generation%22 "Independence temple to be built 'in this generation'"] , FAIR LDS, retrieved January 24, 2008.]

Temple plans

In June 1833, Smith set out the Plat of Zion, which laid out how the community was to be structured. At the center of the planned city were to be 24 "temples" — 12 for the high priesthood and 12 for lesser priesthood. The specific name for the temple to be built on Temple Lot was "The House of the Lord for the Presidency" which had the following description:

The house of the Lord for the Presidency, is eighty-seven feet long and sixty-one feet wide, and ten feet taken off of the east end for the stairway, leaves the inner court, seventy-eight feet by sixty-one, which is calculated and divided for seats in the following manner, viz: the two aisles four feet wide each; the middle block of pews are eleven feet ten inches long, and three feet wide each; and the two lines drawn through the middle are four inches (102 mm) apart; in which space a curtain is to drop at right angles, and divide the house into four parts if necessary. The pews of the side blocks are fourteen and a half feet long, and three feet wide. The five pews in each corner of the house, are twelve feet six inches long. The open spaces between the corner and side pews are for fireplaces; those in the west are nine feet wide, and the east ones are eight feet and eight inches (203 mm) wide, and the chimneys carried up in the wall where they are marked with a pencil.

...

Make your house fourteen feet high between the floors. There will not be a gallery but a chamber; each story to be fourteen feet high, arched overhead with an elliptic arch. Let the foundation of the house be of stone; let it be raised sufficiently high to allow of banking up so high as to admit of a descent every way from the house, so far as to divide the distance between this house, and the one next to it. On the top of the foundation, above the embankment, let there be two rows of hewn stone, and then commence the brick-work on the hewn stone. The entire height of the house is to be twenty-eight feet, each story being fourteen feet; make the wall a sufficient thickness for a house of this size. The end view represents five windows of the same size as those at the side, the middle window excepted, which is to be the same, with the addition of side lights. This middle window is designed to light the rooms both above and below, as the upper floor is to be laid off in the same way as the lower one, and arched overhead; with the same arrangement of curtains, or veils, as before mentioned. The doors are to be five feet wide, and nine feet high, and to be in the east end of the house. The west end is to have no doors, but in other respects is to be like the east, except the windows are to be opposite the alleys which run east and west. The roof of the house is to have one-fourth pitch, the door to have Gothic top, the same as the windows. The shingles of the roof to be painted before they are put on. There is to be a fanlight, as you see. The windows and doors are all to have venetian blinds. A belfry is to be in the east end, and a bell of very large size. [ [http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/rees/325/documents/City%20of%20Zion.pdf An Explanation of the Plat of the City of Zion, Sent to the Brethren in Zion, the 25Th of June, 1833 - byu.edu - Retrieved January 20, 2008] ]

Eviction from Jackson County

In July 1833, the process that would end with Latter Day Saints Saints being evicted from Independence and the surrounding Jackson County, Missouri area started when W. W. Phelps published in the "Evening and Morning Star" a Missouri law which set out the requirements for free blacks to come to Missouri (they had to have a certificate of citizenship from another state before entering Missouri).

The publication of something showing blacks that there was an alternative to being slave was considered the last straw for other Jackson County non-Latter Day Saint residents — particularly the slave holders.David Persuitte (2000, 2d ed.). "Joseph Smioth and the Origins of the Book of Mormon" (New York: McFarland) [http://books.google.com/books?id=5Zx9qOay304C&pg=PA234&lpg=PA234&dq=evening+star+morning+star+slave+mormon&source=web&ots=TiP7vPQUI6&sig=ULe0-mgUzRsDz-OayQN5gonbHVM p. 234] .] They burned the newspaper plant and tarred and feathered Bishop Edward Partridge and church elder Charles Allen.

As a result, the Latter Day Saints moved across the Missouri River to Clay County, Missouri, where they retained David Rice Atchison as an attorney in settling the claims on the Latter Day Saints' real estate in Jackson County. They were to relocate again to Caldwell County, Missouri and Far West, Missouri before being expelled altogether from Missouri in the Mormon War. [During this period Smith was to lay a cornerstone for a temple Far West and Brigham Young was to dedicate a site at Adam-ondi-Ahman (although no cornerstones were laid). Both of those sites are within convert|100|mi|km to the north of Temple Lot. The temples were never built. The LDS Church currently owns the two other Missouri temple sites and has visitor areas at them.]

In March 1839, Smith — whose surrender at Far West, Missouri ended the war — told his followers to "sell all the land in Jackson county, and all other lands in the state whatsoever." The Temple Lot was sold to Martin Harris, but Harris did not record the deed.

Post-Smith era

Smith was assassinated in Carthage, Illinois in June 1844. On April 6, 1845, Apostle Brigham Young expressed a desire to reassert church control of the Temple Lot: "And when we get into Jackson county to walk in the courts of that house, we can say we built this temple: for as the Lord lives we will build up Jackson county in this generation."

In 1847, the city of Independence formally incorporated with the Temple Lot receiving the legal description of being lots 15 through 22 in the Woodson and Maxwell Addition.

On April 26, 1848, Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff in Winter Quarters, Nebraska debated what they should do about their claim on the property prior to the planned journey to the Salt Lake Valley. Their decision was to accept a $300 quit claim offer on the deed.

Various Latter Day Saint groups that remained in Illinois argued that they should follow the original instruction of Joseph Smith and return to Independence to build the temple. In 1867, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) acquired the property and erected its first house of worship on it in 1882.

On June 9, 1887, the RLDS Church laid claim to the entire 63 acre greater Temple Lot after acquiring the deed for the property from the heirs of Oliver Cowdery. The only contested portion of the purchase was the specific Temple Lot.

In 1891, the RLDS Church sued the Temple Lot church for the title to the Temple Lot. Although the RLDS Church won at trial, ["Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ", 60 F. 937 (W.D. Mo. 1894).] it lost on appeal in federal circuit court. ["Church of Christ in Missouri v. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", 70 F. 179 (8th Cir. 1895).]

Attempts to build a temple

On February 4, 1927, Otto Fetting, an apostle of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), claimed that John the Baptist had visited him at his home as an angel and urged that the temple be constructed. [Mike Connell, [http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/OPINION02/801060306 "Small branch of Mormonism has ties to Port Huron"] , [Port Huron, Mich.] "Times-Herald", January 6, 2008.] Fetting's claim was officially endorsed by the leading quorum of the church and by most of the laity,Fact|date=January 2008 who then agreed to begin construction of the temple in April 1929.

Ground was broken on April 6, 1929, with instructions that the temple was to be completed within seven years. The proposed temple was to be convert|90|ft|m in length and convert|180|ft|m in width. As plans proceeded on staking the ground, an angel appeared and stated that " [t] he building that you have staked is ten feet too far east and if you will move the stakes then it shall stand upon the place that has been pointed out by the finger of God." A doctrinal dispute about baptism ensued later that year, and Fetting was censured by a simple majority vote of fellow apostles at a church conference in October 1929.Fact|date=January 2008 The membership who supported Fetting gradually formed their own organization, the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message.

During the excavation of the site, the stones buried by Joseph Smith, in line with the survey markers, were found on or about May 22 1929. [This event was noted in the church newsletter, "Zion's Advocate".] These two stones are currently in the small museum in the Temple Lot church, and their original position is marked by two other engraved stones, embedded visibly in the lot. The outer corners of the temple are presently marked by similar stones, for a total of six.

The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) never completed construction of its planned temple.

=Church burnings=

On January 1, 1990, a member of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) who had recently joined the LDS Church, set fire to the unoccupied church building on the Temple Lot,cite news |first=Karen and Beverly Potter |last=Blakeman |title=Ex-church member dances as vintage sanctuary burns |work=Kansas City Times |page=A-1, A-7 |date=1990-01-02] ["Missouri Man Charged in Arson and Burglary of Historic Building", "Deseret News", 1990-01-04, p. B5.] James Walker, [http://www.watchman.org/lds/fire.htm "Former Member Burns 'Temple Lot' Church After Joining Mormons"] , "Watchman Expositor", vol. 7, no. 2 (1990).] claiming that his actions were part of a political protest and a prophecy that war was coming to America. The fire caused significant damage to the second storey of the building, although the first floor containing church records and documents remained intact. On February 1, 1990, the remainder of the building (originally built in 1905) was razed. Construction of a new headquarters building began in August 1990. The man was convicted by a jury of second-degree arson and breaking and entering on January 16, 1991. ["Missouri Man Convicted in Temple Lot Fire", "Deseret News", 1991-01-19, p. A7.] The New Year's Day 1990 incident was the second time the Temple Lot church headquarters building had been damaged by fire by a lone protester. In July, 1898, a man protested church policy by attempting to remove a fence placed around the Temple Lot. Early on September 5, 1898, he set fire to the tiny headquarters building, and then walked to the police station and turned himself in. ["Kansas City Star", 1898-09-05, , p. A-1.]

Museum

A small museum operated by the Temple Lot church, accompanied by a narrator who will tell the story of the small church, is open during weekdays on the Temple Lot; admission is free.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/ Church of Christ (Temple Lot) web site]
* [http://www.farwesthistory.com/indep/default.asp Far West Cultural Center]