Temple Lot

Temple Lot
EGDJ · CC BY 3.0 · source
Name	Temple Lot
Location	Independence, Missouri, United States
Coordinates	39°04′29″N 94°23′25″W
Founded	1831 (laid out)
Denomination	Latter Day Saint movement (historical claims)
Notable	Site of proposed temple in Latter Day Saint restoration movement

Temple Lot is a 2.5-acre parcel in Independence, Missouri long associated with the early Latter Day Saint movement, Church of Christ (Temple Lot), and competing claims among The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Restorationist groups. The site has served as a focal point for 19th-century settlement, legal contestation, prophetic proclamation, and modern preservation efforts involving local, state, and national actors. It remains a contested symbolic landscape tied to competing narratives about prophecy, property, and American religious pluralism.

History

The parcel was designated in 1831 during the Kirtland Temple and Book of Commandments era of the Latter Day Saint movement as the intended location for a temple in the prophesied "center place" of Zion. Early Latter Day Saint leaders such as Joseph Smith identified Jackson County, Missouri and specifically the town plan of Independence, Missouri as central to millennial hopes. The 1833 Extermination Order (Missouri) and the Missouri Mormon War (1838) expelled many adherents, but the conceptual importance of the site persisted through the migrations that produced settlements in Nauvoo, Illinois and later Salt Lake City, Utah. After schisms following Joseph Smith's death in 1844, groups including followers of Brigham Young, James Strang, and Granville Hedrick made competing claims tied to prophetic succession and territorial plans.

In the postbellum period the parcel became the headquarters for Hedrickite adherents who organized the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and built a modest meeting house nearby. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the property was at the center of lawsuits and public controversies involving Granville Hedrick, Otto Fetting, Ervil LeBaron, and representatives of the RLDS Church (later Community of Christ). National figures such as Ulysses S. Grant and local actors in Jackson County, Missouri also intersected indirectly through law enforcement and municipal regulation.

Religious Significance

For adherents across the Restorationist spectrum, the plot signifies the prophesied location for a future temple central to the millennial reign described in the Book of Mormon and in revelations attributed to Joseph Smith. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Community of Christ, and various fundamentalist offshoots interpret the site's significance through diverse scriptural and prophetic frameworks tied to revelations such as those recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. Prophets and leaders including Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III, and Granville Hedrick produced competing doctrinal narratives about authority, priesthood succession, and the temple's ritual and eschatological functions.

Ritual imagination around the parcel influenced settlement patterns, missionary activity, and interdenominational dialogue. The site's sanctity is invoked in publications and statements by Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders, and it features in the devotional economies of smaller bodies like the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints-related groups.

Ownership and Legal Disputes

Ownership disputes over the parcel generated landmark litigation, including cases adjudicated in Missouri courts and debated in national fora. The most notable 19th-century suit involved the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints against the Hedrickite corporation and resulted in judicial consideration of deeds, succession claims, and the authority to hold property in trust for religious purposes. Legal arguments frequently invoked property law, corporate charters, and evidentiary questions surrounding early deeds executed by adherents such as Edward Partridge.

Throughout the 20th century legal controversies included contested sales, litigation over access and use, and municipal zoning issues in Jackson County, Missouri. Litigation and negotiated settlements affected not only title but also public access, caretaking responsibilities, and the right to erect buildings. These disputes drew attention from national civil liberties advocates and scholarly observers interested in church–state interaction and property rights involving religious minorities.

Physical Description and Location

The parcel comprises approximately 2.5 acres at the northeast quadrant of the intersection of West Pacific Avenue and Liberty Street in central Independence, Missouri, north of the Independence Square commercial district. The terrain is urban parcel with lawn, flagstaffs, and a small administration building used by caretakers. Landscape features include marked boundaries, historical plaques, and a modest visitors' area; surrounding structures include municipal buildings, commercial blocks, and houses associated with 19th- and 20th-century development.

Proximity to transportation corridors such as historic Santa Fe Trail routes and municipal thoroughfares situates the lot within multiple heritage layers: pioneer trails, county courthouse precincts, and modern historic-district planning regulated by Jackson County, Missouri authorities and preservation bodies.

Archaeology and Preservation

Archaeological investigations have been limited by the lot's contested status and by preservation protocols applied by local historical societies and denominational custodians. Surveys conducted in adjacent Independence districts have documented material culture from the antebellum and postbellum eras, including domestic artifacts linked to early settler households and trade along the Santa Fe Trail. Preservation efforts involve coordination among the Jackson County Historical Society, the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, and denominational stewards who manage commemorative markers and landscape maintenance.

Historic designation discussions have balanced archaeological potential against devotional stewardship, resulting in conservation practices aimed at protecting surface contexts, archival collections, and documentary records housed in local repositories such as the Missouri Historical Society.

Cultural Impact and Media Coverage

The parcel has featured in national and regional media, academic monographs, and documentary treatments exploring American religious diversity, millenarian movements, and legal history. Coverage in newspapers and broadcast outlets highlighted trials, proposed construction plans by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others, and wider debates about religious freedom. Scholars from institutions such as Harvard University, Brigham Young University, and University of Missouri have produced analyses situating the lot within studies of American sectarianism.

Popular culture references include documentary segments, museum exhibitions at the Independence Visitors Center, and entries in encyclopedic works on Mormonism and American frontier religion. The site's persistent presence in public discourse reflects broader tensions over prophecy, place, and pluralism in United States religious history.

Category:Buildings and structures in Independence, Missouri Category:Latter Day Saint movement Category:Religious sites in Missouri