Episode 122: Ownership of the Kirtland Temple, a History

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:17)
Remember when we agreed we were going to take some time off, do some serious thinking, and then we'd come back with our favorite revolving door.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (0:24)
Uh, I remember nothing of the sort.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:27)
Come on. Revolving doors are part of what makes America great, and to a lesser extent Canada, honestly. And I'm not just saying this to make points at the big doormaker upstairs.
I have to say the one at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, that thing's a banger.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (0:42)
Okay, even if that were true, and I'm not convinced that it is, that still leaves one huge aching question. What in the absolute hell does this have to do with anything?

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:52)
You and Tia Greaves with me on this one need to calm down.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (0:56)
How dare you.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:57)
No one is prepared to get in the time machine with that kind of attitude, ma'am, because we need to go back to Kirtland for a bit. There's been some stuff happening.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (1:07)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hanson-Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:10)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (1:12)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion. This isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:39)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (1:45)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:53)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (2:13)
Okay, Mr. Director of Revolving Door Operations, you talked a pretty big game right out the gate. So humor me, what are we talking about today?

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:22)
Well, see, we talked about Kirtland a little. And it's like eating Rice Krispie Treats.
It's something that I did a long time ago, but I've moved far beyond that.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (2:32)
Great. You're just pissing off the In-N-Out and Rice Krispie Treats demographics. This is Utah. This is where we're recording. It's your hometown. What are you doing?

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:42)
Listen, I feel like that Venn diagram is just one solid, likely sad and angry circle. But we digress, however.
The reason we need to go back to the sleepy hamlet of Kirtland is probably obvious to anyone who's even mildly hip to the current scene. Because, of course, Grandmother Temple in Kirtland passed from Community of Christ hands after many years to LDS hands.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (3:06)
So how many years are we talking?

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:09)
Please refer to the aforementioned lyrics above. Getting there.
Fine, since you're so antsy, you're now in charge of the review. We all know the book ends, you've got your Joseph Smith at the beginning, and then the Community of Christ until just barely, but what's the middle part?

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (3:24)
Kids, when a community loves each other very much, then a revelation commanding a temple is born.
The time was June 1833, the building was a house of the Lord. They weren't sure exactly what that was, but it would be Mormonism's first big building. That much was sure. They put on their hard hats, hitched up their vintage drawers, and went to work. Using elements from famous buildings and design books, they built the thing. By early 1836, it was time to dedicate this building.
This marked the period of active use of the Kirtland Temple, dedication, washing and anointing, school offices, normal Sunday meetings, all of the above. For two glorious years, it was the physical manifestation of Mormonism's first golden age. Until that all came crashing down.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:37)
Well, the June 1833 Revelation called for preaching and fasting and prayer. The reality was that the temple would soon see a lot of other things, yelling and shoving and bowing knives, for example. And that's actually a pretty good metaphor for the next several decades.
The Kirtland Temple would be one of the best expressions of the complexity left in the shattering of the Mormon people after Joseph Smith's death. You might even say it was a...

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (4:58)
Revolving door.

**Bryan Buchanan** (5:00)
Hey, geez, spoiler alert.
Fine, yes, it was definitely a revolving door. Viva la Revolucion!

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (5:07)
I feel like you're not using that right, but okay.

**Bryan Buchanan** (5:10)
Not true. Martin Harris's middle name was Che, not widely known.
Back to work, though.

**Lindsay Hanson-Park** (5:15)
These are the jokes people are paying for.

**Bryan Buchanan** (5:17)
Oh, and they're getting their money's worth, I would argue too. As people might recall, Joseph Smith hightailed it out of Kirtland in January 1838, never to return. This, of course, meant that life in Kirtland immediately stopped and was never important or even interesting again.