I wanna talk about the Independence area, the area of Independence where there are Mormon sites. So it was interesting to go to this place because it's sacred to all branches of Mormonism. And there are more than one for those who don't realize or remember it. But in, in all of the, the sacred texts
which are organized in different books called different things. Uh But in all branches of Mormonism, there is this revelation that Independence Missouri is a holy place that God has appointed for the gathering of the saints, for the gathering of the believers. Now it's interesting to look through history
with this because this, this lot today chunks of it are owned by several different Mormon branches. The community of Christ is the most active on the lot. Um I shouldn't say a lot because it, that could be confused with, with a specific part of this lot. But this whole lot was, was bought way back when
it came into Mormonism. And since then, the ownership of it has changed several times and today this is what you've got. So the L Ds own this chunk right here and the community of Christ who used to be called the RL DS. They own this lot and this lot. And then the church of Christ owns the actual lot
that was dedicated for a temple. And across the street they have a church. So there's a little house here and a church here. OK. So a brief review of the history of, of that land you can find in this article uh in the Mormon interpreter and I I recommend you read this if you're interested in it. It's
a wonderful article. It's concise and, and informational. There's a lot of information there. It's rich. But what's interesting about walking around here is you'll see signs prominently posted all over the place on this lot that says Church of Christ founded in 1830. And I don't know why I don't wanna
pick on the temple lot people, but I don't know why people just make stuff up that's obviously false and every group on this picture is guilty of it. Ok? But instead of stating the facts, they just make things up like that and put up signs and it's, it's uh I don't know, it's sad. So here's the history
in 1833 Edward Partridge, he bought, he, he owned the land. Um He had purchased it from people who weren't Mormons. And then in 1848 a non Mormon named James Poole sent an agent to winter quarters in order to buy the lot. It's not clear that James Poole knew that Partridge had died in Navoo. Uh So the
, the agent began dealing with the widow, uh Partridge's widow whose name, I don't remember Mrs Partridge and Brigham Young caught wind of it and he had a, a meeting with the the rest of the 12 and discussed the possibilities, ended up deciding that she should sell it and the offer was for $300. So she
went back to Missouri and executed the sale. Um but it didn't last for long. Poo, ran into some financial difficulties and sold it to a guy named John Maxwell via the sheriff who repoed it. And uh he ended up subdividing the land with a partner and selling off lots. There was a guy named Granville Hedrick
who was ordained an elder during Joseph Smith's lifetime who, and this is, this is uh surprising to most L DS people to hear. I think it wasn't that everyone who became involved with Joseph Smith in some way, just up and, and left wherever they were living. Every time he moved everywhere he went and
everywhere they sent missionaries. Even when people did come along, there were people who stayed behind. And it wasn't that those people stopped believing, right? We even do this in the Old Testament when we look at Egypt and say, yeah, well, all of the Israelites painted their, their door frames. Does
it say that all of the Israelites came with Moses? Does it say that do you think the rebellion started after they went into the wilderness? Anyway? So, there's a splintering at all times. It's just a constant thing when you're, when you're preaching the gospel or doing anything involved with improvement
, you're going to have fractions of form and people who respond to different measures. Right. Anyway, uh, there were a group of, there was a group of Mormons in north central Illinois and in 1852 they started meeting together this guy Granville Hedrick, who was an elder, was organizing them and uh had
had sort of pitched up these meetings and everything. And in 1864 many years later, he claimed to have received a revelation that instructed them to reclaim the land consecrated by Joseph Smith. So John Hendrick obviously related. Oh, I, I have a Hendrick and a Hendrick. There might be a typo here or
maybe they're not related. Maybe that's a false assumption on my part. Um I should google that and figure it out. Anyway, a guy named John Hendrick and William Eaton, they purchased the lots owned by the church of Christ between 1867 and 1874. And then over the course of a few years from 87 to 89 they
built their first chapel there. So you can look at the decades of time passing through through uh through which these changes occurred. And obviously, this is a slow moving story, right? But there's more to it than, than that. It, it keeps going. In 1900 the RL DS temple lot and L DS churches started
meeting together. I think there were three meetings where they decided we're trying to coordinate an effort to build a temple together on that lot. And this is a really surprising thing for LD ss people to hear. Um, even in 1900 the, the temple orthodoxy was very much in flux. What that meant the doctrines
of temples. Now, if you were alive in 1900 that probably wouldn't be such a shocking thing because you probably know that Brigham Young wrote the modern endowment ceremony that that wasn't uh the original from NV, that he rewrote it. And um it, it was a much more dynamic, they had a much more dynamic
impression of these things than people do today. So uh most people have no idea that the L DS temple ceremony has changed as much as it has, even though it's changed in their lives during their lives, but whatever. So um instead of culminating these meetings with some group effort to create a temple
and use one on that lot since they all believed in God's commandment to create a temple on that lot. Uh Instead the L DS church decided, and this is the first presidency that was involved in these meetings. The first presidency decided that no, they didn't wanna work with anyone else. They just want
to buy the land and that wasn't going to happen. So the best they could manage was in 1904. Uh 0, let me explain that it's not gonna happen. You can look up some really interesting quotes from the temple lot Church of Christ, people who uh have said that no amount, they would never sell that land for
any amount of money. And they said that at one time in the early 19 hundreds, I believe the L Ds church came to them with a blank check and said, tell us how much you want for this and we will buy it. And they said no. Now that's one person, one of the leaders of that church said that maybe it happened
, maybe it didn't, I don't know, I don't really care, but that's the story. So anyway, in 1904, they managed to get their hands on 26 acres, the L DS church um and they included 20 acres of the original parcel. It did not include the temple lot. So that land is what, sorry, where am I? That's this chunk
here. Ok. So they had a, a church fund for this. And it's really interesting to read what the description of the fund was because it, it helps you see what the attitude was toward the land back then. And this is a major point, a takeaway of my trip there. That was why it was such a letdown to be there
. And that is that, that the modern perception is, hey, we have a visitor center here and it's kind of lame and I'm not sure what else we're gonna do with this place, but we'll get there. So this church fund was named for the purchase of land into Independence, Jackson County, Missouri and the redemption
of Zion Zion, meaning that land, the area where God said Zion would be. And so even as late as 1904, the, the L Ds church was thinking that at some point they'd be moving back there. And that, that was the place from which the gospel would go to the world. In fact, in 1906, the church moved its mission
office, the headquarters of the mission from Kansas City to that property. And the fact it was in Kansas City in the first place, tells you something. So in 1912, there was a chapel built, obviously that's not standing anymore. The state center that's there is, is modern. Um In 1920 the RL Ds moved its
headquarters there. They were headquartered somewhere else in another state. And again, this just underscores the importance of this lot and how recently it was so important to all these different Mormon branches in 1927. Now, now I should say the RL DS doubled down on that as we'll see in a minute and
they're still there, they still have their headquarters there. Even though they changed their name in 1927. The uh an apostle from the church of Christ, which is the, the ones that own. The temple lot said John, the baptist visited him and commanded them to build a temple on the lot. Uh He was visited
again according to him and told that they needed to begin the construction in 1929 and that they had seven years to build this temple. So accordingly, they broke ground on April 6th. That's obviously an important date in 1929. But they didn't get very far. They dug the foundation and then that's it.
They just stopped. So in 1946 the city offered to backfill the foundation with, you know, put dirt back in it in this big hole and they agreed. And if you go there today, it's just AAA field of grass. There are four placeholders for the corners of the temple, uh stones in the ground and there is a little
stone marker and that's it. So um that was kind of that until the late sixties when apparently the city of independence threatened the L DS church with a seizure of the lot that they owned because they weren't doing anything with it. And to prevent that, uh David O mckay met with an architect and some
other folks and decided to put a visitor center there. It's interesting to note that they consulted the city plat that Joseph Smith and Associates had um drawn up for that area originally in deciding to build that building where it is and in the size it is. So that's interesting and also underscores
that is as late as the 19 sixties L DS. Church leaders at the very top were still thinking about Joseph Smith's plans for the the city of Zion. The RL DS began to build the, the spiral temple and headquarters building that dominates that area. In 1990 they were finished a few years later. And uh in 2008
, the L DS church began building a temple, but they chose to build it in Kansas City, I think 12 miles away from the site instead of on the land that they owned next to the temple lot. And that's very interesting because so so at this point, without knowing the whole story, the obvious outcome is that
they built and they had all the money and all the ability to build it right next to that lot, but instead built it outside of the city. And that just shows you well in the, in the adjacent city, Kansas City adjoins independence, but they chose to put it there instead of at that lot. And that shows how
much movement there had been in their attitudes towards that area. And so now when you go there, like I said, there's a state center and then on the piece of land owned by the L DS church, flush with billions of dollars that they don't know what to do with what do they have, they have a tiny little visitor
center constructed in the late sixties as basically a placeholder. So they wouldn't lose the land staffed by an elderly couple that volunteer. They're, they're senior missionaries. So obviously they change out from time to time and that's that. So it's extraordinarily underwhelming. And uh that's sad
. So here are some questions to leave you with. When will Zion be built and by whom, what was the purpose of the temple to be built on the temple lot in the city plat of Zion that I referred to, that Joseph made up Joseph and associates. There were 12 temples to the west and 12 temples to the east on
, on adjacent lots. One of those was the temple lot in question and the 12 were for the higher priesthood and 12 for the lower uh the one that's called the temple lot was to be built first and it was quote for the first presidency. So my question is, what was the purpose of the 11 other temples for the
higher priesthood and the 12 for the lower? And had these purposes been fulfilled? Will there be any temp in Zion? If so is its purpose the same as the one contemplated back in 1831? These are important questions?