Kirtland Village: The First American Headquarters of a New Faith

In the winter of eighteen thirty-one, Joseph Smith moved the entire center of his young church from upstate New York to the Ohio township of Kirtland. He had received a revelation directing his followers here, and within months several hundred converts were streaming into this quiet community south of Lake Erie.

Kirtland served as church headquarters for seven years. Members pooled labor and money to build the Kirtland Temple, the first temple constructed by the Latter Day Saint movement, dedicated on March twenty-seventh, eighteen thirty-six. Roughly a thousand people crowded inside for the ceremony; the service had to be repeated days later for those who could not fit.

The organized structure of the church, including many of its leadership offices, took shape here in Kirtland. The original buildings have been restored to their eighteen thirties appearance and are open today as Historic Kirtland Village.