Jackson County temple lot saga

A small white church sits at the corner of a large landscaped lot in Independence, Mo. It is the international headquarters of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). Joseph Smith dedicated this spot in 1831 for a temple to be built to usher in the millennial reign of Christ.

The Temple Lot church tried to build that temple 80 years ago.

\"All factions of Mormonism believe . . . that this is sacred space and this is where it's going to happen,\" R. Jean Addams, an independent historian, said.

\"There will be a sacred temple built here before Jesus Christ descends openly to the earth again . . . (Mormons) haven't abandoned this hope that at some future time there will be a holy city, literally, built at this location. So it's very, very sacred to Latter-day Saints,\" Alexander L. Baugh, associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, said.

Addams and Baugh spoke at the 22nd international conference of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) on Thursday, June 11 in Salt Lake City at the City and County Building. Their presentations told about the Temple Lot church efforts to build that prophesied temple.

After persecution drove the Mormons from Missouri, several small groups went back to old homes and friends in central Illinois. These branches were spared the problems that faced members of the LDS Church who gathered in and around Nauvoo. When the main body of the Saints left for the west under Brigham Young, they stayed behind.

The small branches united in 1852 under Granville Hedrick as their leader — and are sometimes called \"Hedrickites\" today. They called themselves the Church of Christ. Hedrick claimed a revelation. The small membership was to return to Missouri in 1867.

About 10 to 12 families did so, according to Addams. Hedrick followed seven years later.

__IMAGE1__They began buying up small parcels where Joseph Smith had dedicated the temple site — about five blocks west of the courthouse, according to Baugh. (See Doctrine and Covenants 57:3) The full original purchase that included the temple site Joseph Smith had dedicated was made by Edward Partridge in 1831 and was about 63 acres.

Eventually the Church of Christ acquired 2 3/4 acres and added \"Temple Lot\" after their church's name to distinguish it from another Church of Christ.

This purchase did not sit well with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ), which sued in 1891 to gain control from the Temple Lot church of those important acres. The attempt failed.