Kirtland: The First Mormon Headquarters

In eighteen thirty-one, Joseph Smith received a revelation directing him and his growing congregation to leave New York and move to Kirtland, Ohio, where a strong local following had already formed. Within months, thousands of Latter-day Saints sold their farms, often at a loss, and settled here, making Kirtland the first headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Membership climbed toward three thousand.

A revelation that year commanded construction of the first Latter-day Saint temple. Smith dedicated the building in eighteen thirty-six. But financial troubles and internal tensions mounted, and by early eighteen thirty-eight most of the Saints had departed for Missouri.

Kirtland's brief seven-year role shaped early Mormon theology and practice deeply. The Newel K. Whitney store survives from the era, and the schoolhouse, sawmill and ashery here are reconstructions on or near their original sites.