Upon the Temple Lot

Book excerpt: The Temple Lot in Jackson County, Missouri, has been a focus in Mormonism since Joseph Smith Jr. predicted it would be the center-place of the New Jerusalem in Christ's millennial kingdom. Although Smith dedicated the site and planned to build a temple on it, the effort was thwarted when his followers were driven from the county in 1833 and from the state in 1839. After Smith's death, his movement divided into rival factions. In 1864, Granville Hedrick, leader of a small group of Restoration believers in Illinois, received a revelation calling upon the faithful to return to Jackson County. Hedrick's group reclaimed the Temple Lot and has come to be known as the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). This heavily illustrated book recounts the story of their attempt to finally build the predicted temple.