LDS Church planning to rebuild Smiths' home

With the LDS Church's focus this year on founder Joseph Smith's 200th birthday, church members anticipate a recollection of many events in early church history during this weekend's 175th Annual General Conference, which begins today.

Many Latter-day Saints can readily recount what happened in places like Palmyra, N.Y., or Nauvoo, Ill. — where the church has spent millions in the past decade building temples and reproducing historic buildings — but others are fuzzy on what occurred in Harmony, Pa.

But that historical obscurity likely won't last much longer.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is progressing with plans to rebuild what is believed to be the only home Joseph Smith and his wife, Emma, ever owned, along with a visitors center and a new LDS meetinghouse. Joseph Smith said he translated most of the faith's signature canon — the Book of Mormon — in Harmony. Church spokesman Dale Bills on Thursday declined specific questions about the project, saying "discussions are under way, and the project is in the planning stages."

Locals familiar with happenings on the site know the church is working on the project, but local stake president Keith Dunford referred specific questions about it to leaders in Salt Lake City.

Archaeological excavation work has already been undertaken at the site, according to Dan Janda, president of the church's Susquehanna Branch. Penn State University researchers have combed through what was left after the house burned to the ground in 1919.

The church has amassed about 150 acres on Route 171, he said. Holdings include a purchase three years ago of 25 acres needed to rebuild the Smith home and eventually improve access to the Susquehanna River several hundred yards from the home site.

When the church purchased the 25-acre parcel, there were significant environmental concerns because railroad tracks run through the site, which is between the existing monument and the river.

Since the purchase, significant environmental mitigation has occurred on the property, Janda said, adding there has been public discussion of how to deal with increased traffic on Route 171 once the site is developed.

Janda said that two years ago an LDS missionary couple were assigned to count the people visiting the site. Using their numbers and estimates that came from a guest register, he said more than 10,000 people visited during the summer and early fall of 2003, with several thousand more during the rest of the year.