page_title: Jackson County, Missouri
section_title: Latter Day Saints
hierarchical_section_title: Jackson County, Missouri / History / Latter Day Saints
caption_attribution_description: English: Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri
context_page_description: Jackson County is located in the western portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 674,158. The estimated population in 2019 is 703,011 making it the second-most populous county in the state. Although Independence retains its status as the original county seat, Kansas City serves as a second county seat and the center of county government. The county was organized December 15, 1826, and named for President Andrew Jackson. Jackson County is the most populated county in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Total employment in 2016 was 338,535.
context_section_description: Jackson County figures prominently in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement.  Although formed in upstate New York in 1830, in March 1831 Joseph Smith said that a location on the Missouri–Kansas border was to be the latter-day "New Jerusalem" with the "center place" located in Independence, the county seat. Traveling to the area in the Summer of 1831, Smith and some associates formally proclaimed Jackson County as the site, in a ceremony in August 1831.
  Joseph Smith was then told that the members of the Church should buy as much land as possible west from Independence up to the line that designated the land of the Native Americans. Learning that Jackson County Missouri was Zion meant much to Joseph Smith and the members of the Church. According to the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Zion is a place where the pure in heart live. This can mean that Zion can be anywhere, but when God referred to Jackson County as Zion he also told Joseph that this land would be the New Jerusalem.
  ...The saints were eager to begin building up Zion so that they could further the preparations for the coming of Christ.
  
  After receiving this revelation, Joseph began making arrangements to build up a city. On August 2, 1831, he helped lay the logs for the first house built in Zion. The first log was carried and placed by twelve men to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Sidney Rigdon also was asked to dedicate and consecrate the land for the gathering of the Saints...
  Leadership and members of the Latter Day Saint movement began moving to Jackson County as soon as word of the August 1831 dedication ceremony was published. Open conflict with earlier settlers ensued, driven by religious and cultural differences, and the perception by pro-slavery Missourians that the "Yankee" "Mormons" were abolitionists. Vigilantes in the public and private sector used force to drive individual Saints from Jackson to nearby counties within Missouri; eventually, Latter Day Saints were given until the end of November 6, 1833 to leave the county en masse. On November 23, 1833, the few remaining LDS residents were ordered to leave Jackson County. By mid-1839, following the Missouri Mormon War, the LDS were driven from the state altogether, not to return to Jackson County or Missouri in significant numbers until 1867.
  Today several Latter Day Saint movement churches are headquartered in Jackson County, most notably the Community of Christ, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) and the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church (the largest of the Latter Day Saint churches) has a strong presence in the county as well, though its headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Joseph Smith prophesied that a temple would be built in Independence "in this generation". The Community of Christ remains the only one of the aforementioned (as of 2014) to have a temple in the city on part of the 66-acre (270,000 m²) larger temple area designated by Smith. Smith's original temple site, a smaller five-acre section within that 66 acres (containing stones originally placed by Smith to mark the corners of his intended structure), is currently owned by the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), which hopes to build a temple of its own sometime in the future.
  Although the Kansas City Missouri Temple opened in May 2012 in adjacent Clay County, the LDS Church still believes that a temple will also be built on the Independence Temple Lot (currently owned by the Church of Christ (Temple Lot)) at some future time. An LDS visitors' center is currently situated adjacent to the Temple Lot, with the Community of Christ temple directly across the street.
  Many early members of the Latter Day Saint movement—including Brigham Young—believed that Jackson County was the site of the biblical Garden of Eden.  Others who believed this included Heber C. Kimball, and George Q. Cannon, but there are no surviving first-hand accounts of that doctrine being definitively taught by Josep
caption: Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri, USA. Dedicated 1994
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