If Palmyra, N.Y., is the birthplace of the Restoration, and Fayette, N.Y., the cradle, then Kirtland, Ohio, is the schoolmaster.
Following are highlights of significant events occuring in Palmyra, Fayette and Kirtland. Next week's Church News will feature three other places of significance in early Church history - Nauvoo, Ill., Independence and Far West, Mo.PALMYRA, N.Y.
Location: About 25 miles southeast of Rochester, N.Y., in Wayne (formerly Ontario) County.
Today's population: Estimated at 3,600.
LDS historical significance: The first edition of the Book of Mormon was printed at Egbert B. Grandin's printing office in Palmyra in 1830. The Grandin Building, purchased and remodeled by the Church, serves as a museum, staffed by missionary couples and other Church volunteers. Admission is free.
On the outskirts of Palmyra, a house built about 1850 stands on the site of the home of Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. The Sacred Grove and the Joseph Smith Sr. home are located about 11/2 miles south of Palmyra in Manchester Township. (In New York, townships are subdivisions of counties.) The Hill Cumorah, located about five miles south of Palymra, is the site of an annual pageant, "America's Witness for Christ." An LDS visitors center is located at the base of the hill.
The Church today: The Palmyra Ward meetinghouse is located on the south side of Palmyra. The meetinghouse was dedicated Jan. 15, 1961, by President David O. McKay. Additions were made in 1975 and 1988. A unit of the Rochester New York Palmyra Stake, the Palmyra Ward has 425 members.
FAYETTE, N.Y.
Location: Located in Seneca County, N.Y., a farming community some 35 miles southeast of Hill Cumorah.
Today's population: An estimated 3,000 people reside in the township of Fayette. The town of Fayette consists of about 20 homes at a crossroads.
LDS historical significance: The translation of the Book of Mormon was completed at Fayette in the home of Peter Whitmer, and the Church was organized there April 6, 1830. At Fayette, an angel showed the Three Witnesses the plates from which the record was translated. Twenty revelations were received at Fayette from June 1829 to January 1831, when the headquarters of the Church was located there.
A replica of the Peter Whitmer home stands on the original stone foundation of the original structure. The foundation was unearthed by BYU archaeologists after a farmer's plow accidently dug into the buried stone. The reconstructed cabin, complete with antique furnishings, is open to the public for free tours.
The Church today: Some 260 members reside in the Fayette Ward. A dual-purpose building - one portion used as a meetinghouse and the other as a visitors center - was dedicated by President Spencer W. Kimball April 6, 1980, on the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Church. The building is located just outside the village of Waterloo in the township of Fayette.
On April 6, 1980, for the first time in its 150-year history, the Church held general conferences in two locations - one in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City and the other in Fayette. The proceedings were linked by satellite, and carried wherever conference was shown. In Fayette, President Spencer W. Kimball delivered an address in the Peter Whitmer cabin and a conference address in the Fayette meetinghouse, located just a few hundred yards from the cabin.
KIRTLAND, OHIO
Location: About 20 miles east of Cleveland, Ohio.
Today's population: About 9,000.
LDS historical significance: With the exception of a brief time when Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon resided at nearby Hiram, Ohio, Kirtland was headquarters of the Church from January 1831 until the spring of 1838. Forty-six revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were received in Kirtland, many in upstairs rooms of the Newel K. Whitney Store, where the Prophet Joseph resided, and where the School of the Prophets was held. The store, restored and stocked with goods typical of the 1800s, is open to the public for tours. The Newel K. Whitney Home, across the street from the store, is open to the public as a visitors center. About 35 miles southeast of Kirtland, in Hiram, is the John Johnson farm, where the Prophet Joseph received 16 revelations. The home there is open as a Church visitors center.
Outstanding events in Church history during the Kirtland era include: 1) Marvelous spiritual experiences, including appearances or visions of the Father and Son, and Moses, Elijah, and Elias; and angelic visitations. 2) The Church's "schooling period." The School of the Prophets was conducted here, and LDS newspapers, including The Evening and The Morning Star and The Messenger and Advocate carried spiritual discourses and admonitions from the Prophet and other leaders. 3) The Church's greatest period of organization, with all key offices in the Church being established, from the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, the First Quorum of the Seventy; the first high priests ordained and the Church patriarch first appointed; and priesthood quorums organized. 4) A period of missionary work, as hundreds of elders were sent out from Kirtland to preach the gospel in the United States, Canada and Great Britain.
Construction began on the Kirtland Temple June 5, 1833. The temple, the first completed in this dispensation, was dedicated March 27, 1836, by the Prophet Joseph Smith. During and after its dedication, glorious manifestations were witnessed by the Prophet and others in the temple. Now owned by The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the temple is open to the public for guided tours.
In 1838, the saints left Kirtland as persecution mounted against them. The Prophet left in January. The biggest group, called the Kirtland Camp, left in July. Before Church headquarters were moved to Missouri, some 3,200 people had resided in Kirtland, making it a city about the size that Cleveland was then.
D&C 124:83 records a scourge pronounced on Kirtland in January 1841. In 1979, during a visit to Kirtland, President Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve indicated he felt the scourge had been lifted.
The Church today: A stake center was dedicated on Oct. 17, 1982, by President Ezra Taft Benson, then of the Council of the Twelve. That center burned May 4, 1986. On Nov. 22, 1987, President Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated a new stake center, which houses the Kirtland and Chardon wards.