Related linksThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced ambitious plans to expand visitor facilities and restore and rebuild several landmarks in Kirtland, Ohio.
The town played a significant role of the early church in the 1830s and has been inhabited by LDS Church members longer than any other site except Salt Lake City.
Kirtland City Council President Bob Umholtz likened the reconstruction plan to a small-scale Williamsburg.
According to Karl R. Anderson, a project committee member and patriarch of the Kirtland Stake, the work will involve constructing a new
visitors center resembling a 19th century grist mill used by Samuel Whitney.
It also includes rebuilding the John Johnson Inn and the Newel K. Whitney home, as well as restoring an early schoolhouse, a tannery and an ashery, where potash was made.
The project is 18 acres, excluding parking. It will begin early next year and should be completed by the end of 2002, with dedication ceremonies planned for spring 2003.
The church's plans will complement a separate $3.5 million road construction project to route traffic around the site, according to Kirtland Mayor Ed Podojil. He said the church is paying for that project.
"We've been working on this project for 25 years," Anderson said. "It's a very significant area but often overlooked."
He said the project couldn't become a reality until the two main highways, Chillicothe Road and the Kirtland-Chardon Road, were relocated, because of the danger to pedestrians from some 20,000 vehicles a day passing through the triangle-shaped property.
Work on the road relocation begins this week and should be finished by the end of the year.
The church hasn't released an official cost estimate of the restoration project, but the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper has reported it at $10 million, to be paid for by the church and through private donations.
Purpose of the restoration is to explain Mormonism's early days to outsiders and also to give visitors a chance to see what life was like in the 1830s. Many church members can trace their ancestry to Kirtland. In addition to the Prophet Joseph Smith, four other eventual church presidents also lived there.
Timothy J. Headrick, president of the Kirtland Stake, said local reaction to the project has been wonderful.
"People's attitudes here about the church have turned around," he said.
Anderson said local leaders aren't really excited about attracting more tourists to Kirtland because the area lacks stores and services. However, they are thrilled about some of the city's early history being restored.
He said 55 local civic leaders attended the April 17 open house to announce the event.
"It was all positive; we had no negative reactions," Anderson said.
"Our city entrance sign says Kirtland is a 'city of faith and beauty,' " Podojil said "This is certainly going to accentuate that."
The visitors center will include a 120-seat main theater and two smaller theaters that seat 25 each. It will also contain a family history center and a resource room. Its grist mill appearance will complement Kirtland's pioneer reputation as being a mill town.
While the Missouri frontier was home to more LDS Church members in the 1830s than Kirtland and also has generally received more contemporary notice, Kirtland was the principal administrative headquarters for the church from 1831 until 1838 -- sometimes referred to as the church's Pentecostal period.
The church's principal building in Kirtland was a three-story temple, constructed from 1833-1836 as its first temple. The church abandoned the temple in 1838 and moved West. Today the Kirtland Temple is owned and used as a visitors center by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
A significant number of important church events happened in Kirtland. The first high priests in the church were ordained there, the "Word of Wisdom" revelation was received there in 1833 and the first high council and stake were organized in Kirtland during 1834.
Also, the church received its official nine-word title there; the original First Quorum of the Seventy was called in Kirtland; Joseph Smith received the Egyptian scrolls that he translated into the Book of Abraham there; and the Doctrine and Covenants revelations were accepted at a general assembly of the church in Kirtland.
Newel K. Whitney was church's first bishop, and Joseph Smith lived for a time at his home. Church members were believed to have met regularly at the schoolhouse, and the Johnson Inn is where the Egyptian scrolls were at one time on public display.
Persecution in the area eventually caused the Mormons to move on to Missouri, Illinois and then Utah.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
You can reach Lynn Arave by e-mail at lynn@desnews.com