From Deseret News archives:

LDS Church will seek landmark designation for Mountain Meadows

Published: Friday, March 28, 2008 2:50 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
The LDS Church will seek a National Historic Landmark designation for the property where 120 men, women and children were massacred in 1857 by local LDS leaders and members in the Cedar City area.

Elder Marlin K. Jensen, historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told leaders of three descendant organizations on Friday in Carrollton, Ark., that the church will seek that designation for property it owns in southwest Utah where the Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred.

Late last year leaders of the Mountain Meadows Association, the Mountain Meadows Massacre Descendants and the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation unanimously asked for the landmark status.

"A National Historic Landmark designation, along with the continued efforts of the church and descendants groups, will ensure that those who died at Mountain Meadows will always be remembered as part of our nation's history," Elder Jensen said in a press release sent to Utah media by the LDS Church on Friday.

The release said that during his meeting with the three groups, Elder Jensen "also sought input from the descendants groups on proposed plans to create a second memorial with interpretive markers at the Burgess upper gravesite, an area recently acquired by the Church where remains of some of the victims are thought to lie."

Story continues below
The church recently purchased 600 additional acres of land at Mountain Meadows to avert its development into a residential subdivision. Elder Jensen said, "The land will be left undeveloped to preserve the sanctity of that hallowed area and out of respect for those who died there."

While Mountain Meadows already is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, requirements for a landmark designation involve a process of documenting the historic significance of the site, a public comment period and review by the National Park Service and a government-appointed board of experts, with a final decision by the secretary of the interior.

The three descendant organizations long have discussed stewardship of the site, but their approach to dealing with church leaders and their ultimate goals often have been different. Some consensus developed among them late last year in their request for National Historic Landmark status for the property, and all three organizations sent the same letter to the church requesting its cooperation in December.

Recent comments

Well let's see how much napalm I can dump on this discussion...

...

Fireman | March 31, 2008 at 2:16 a.m.

If what you say is true, then either the Mormons did this just for...

re No Reason | 2:55 p.m. | March 29, 2008 at 3:55 p.m.

The only thing one can say is that the MORMON church needs to admit...

Truth works | March 29, 2008 at 1:33 p.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

This issue of health care is an easy one to resolve. If you care and love...

U. hopes to keep clicking

Utah has the athletes and coach to win this game. Well they? Not sure since...

Despite this, many people will still hate the church for their stance on gay...

"Any laws to favor gays should be put on indefinite hold until they and their...

3A football: Tigers pull away

Bring your A game Tigers, I want to see another game up at "The Turf" this...

Gays get Mormon support in SLC

This is the inclusiveness that the Savior would give. He wouldn't approve of...

Watch and 1997 game 6 semi final vs. Houston and watch Ostertag shut down...

NBA's worry is Donaghy

serious credibility problem for years. They really should have some type of...

I'm just glad that Al Gore is going to be even richer than Bill Gates after...

NBA's worry is Donaghy

I hope he mentioned the last game of the last championship series in which...

Advertisements
Advertisement