If the Church bought the Kirtland Temple

[HiJolly]

First, yeah, it's Kirtland with a 't'.... Costco's great, but, sheesh.... 

And then what I heard was that the foundation has serious issues - There are cracks all over the place (most notably on the front wall). So if the LDS church bought it, I'd think there would have to be a few million $ thrown in for foundation work. 

[Scott Lloyd]

3 hours ago, bluebell said:

I’ve never heard of the beehive house or Carthage jail called a visitor’s center. 

 

I've never heard them referred to officially as tourist attractions either. HIstoric sites is the conventional term.

And actually, there is a visitors center (and yes, they call it that) adjacent to the Carthage Jail.

I think the C of C may have one at Kirtland, though I'm not at all sure about that (never been there).

Edited to add: Yes, according to this website maintained by the Community of Christ, there is a visitors center at the Kirtland Temple.

Edited September 22, 2017 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

2 hours ago, CV75 said:

It would be a great place to display the printer's manuscript.

The printer's manuscript should remain at the Church History Library where it can be preserved and conserved. Those who are curious about it can see it in the beautiful volume of the Joseph Smith Papers that reproduces each page as a photo facsimile with accompanying typescript transcription. Or online at the JS Papers website, if not now then in the future.

Besides, the Book of Mormon translation and publication didn't have anything to do with the Kirtland period. All of that happened in Fayette and Palmyra, N.Y., and in Harmony, Pa.

Edited to add: Just checked the Joseph Smith Papers website. The website doesn't have the Church's publication of the printer's manuscript online, but it does have the 1923 photostatic copies of the pages that the Community of Christ (then the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) made back then.

The words "Interim Content" appear above each page; perhaps this indicates that the website will at some point display the high resolution copies that the Church made and published a couple of years ago.

Edited September 22, 2017 by Scott Lloyd

[bluebell]

12 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

I've never heard them referred to officially as tourist attractions either. HIstoric sites is the conventional term.

And actually, there is a visitors center (and yes, they call it that) adjacent to the Carthage Jail.

I think the C of C may have one at Kirtland, though I'm not at all sure about that (never been there).

I haven't heard them called tourist attractions either, but I also wasn't attempting to correct someone by implying that 'tourist attraction' was somehow the official term the church uses at all of it's historical sites.  

[JLHPROF]

8 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

They turned the Provo Tabernacle into a temple because a fire had already gutted the structure. 

And because demand in that area can sustain two temples.

[JLHPROF]

14 hours ago, Bill "Papa" Lee said:

I think it would remain the same, it was not like other Temples that came later. However some of the most extraordinary things happened in it. Not to mention D&C 110, I believe, the first, "Dedicatory Prayers" for any Temple, Given by Revelation.

I think because of these events it would have to be considered a more sacred property than the Beehive House or the like.
We know that the resurrected Lord and his servants appeared there.

That said, I am sure they would keep it as a historical site.  It would not be turned into a functional temple.
 

[Scott Lloyd]

7 minutes ago, bluebell said:

I haven't heard them called tourist attractions either, but I also wasn't attempting to correct someone by implying that 'tourist attraction' was somehow the official term the church uses at all of it's historical sites.  

Not saying you were. Just pointing out what the Church refers to them as.

[bluebell]

1 minute ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Not saying you were. Just pointing out what the Church refers to them as.

But the church doesn't refer to all historical sites as visitor centers either.  So this whole conversation is kind of unnecessary and odd.   

[Jeanne]

Well...if we are pretending...I sure would like to pretend to get there!!

[Scott Lloyd]

18 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

And because demand in that area can sustain two temples.

True.

I wouldn't go so far as to call the fire a happy accident, but something good did come out of it.

Just me speculating, but I think there could have been some local resistance to turning the tabernacle into a temple had the fire not occurred.

 

[Scott Lloyd]

13 minutes ago, bluebell said:

But the church doesn't refer to all historical sites as visitor centers either.  So this whole conversation is kind of unnecessary and odd.   

Right. I should have said historic sites and/or visitors centers.

[bluebell]

Nevermind.

Edited September 22, 2017 by bluebell

[cdowis]

15 hours ago, Avatar4321 said:

I suspect when we obtain it the Lord will reveal the purpose to everyone's shock

The new home for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  

That would be shocking.  

Edited September 22, 2017 by cdowis

[e-eye]

That's the recent rumor isn't it?  Maybe I missed another thread but somebody is saying the deal is all but done and the church is buying it as the current owner can't afford the upkeep. 

[Scott Lloyd]

51 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

And because demand in that area can sustain two temples.

I'm hearing that there soon may be several more cities that have more than one temple.

When President Monson announced last April that a temple would be built "In the greater Manila, Philippines, area," I think it was phrased that way because there is already a temple in Manila.

 

[gopher]

If the LDS church does buy the Kirtland Temple, they might as well buy the CoC visitors center next to it.  However, they should insist the CoC includes the hippy playing the sitar when you first walk in.  He was far out, man.  Well worth the $5.   (Visited there last summer)

 

[strappinglad]

Is it true that the Kirtland temple was at one time used to house animals?

[Calm]

8 hours ago, e-eye said:

That's the recent rumor isn't it?  Maybe I missed another thread but somebody is saying the deal is all but done and the church is buying it as the current owner can't afford the upkeep. 

There has been a rumor about the LDS Church buying Kirtland for decades it seems like to me.

[jkwilliams]

14 minutes ago, strappinglad said:

Is it true that the Kirtland temple was at one time used to house animals?

I believe that was the Nauvoo temple after it was gutted by fire. 

[Calm]

Wiki says Kirtland:

"E. Cecil McGavin claims the temple was used as a barn for their animals. "The ... beneficiaries of the Mormon exodus from Ohio did not need a house of worship as large as the temple, so they used it as a barn. They made a sloping driveway into the basement, using that large room as a shelter for the milch cows of the community during the winter months", "while they filled the ground floor room with sheep"[1"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtland_Temple

[The Nehor]

25 minutes ago, strappinglad said:

Is it true that the Kirtland temple was at one time used to house animals?

We hid the cureloms and cumoms in the basement.

[clarkgoble]

On 9/21/2017 at 6:37 PM, Tacenda said:

I would bet they would, especially since they've turned Provo's tabernacle into a temple and rebuilt the Nauvoo temple. I'd think there would be a lot of excitement at bringing the Kirtland Temple back into the church...as a temple. 

They changed the Provo tabernacle into a temple only because it had burnt down and because it was a lousy place for Stake conferences due to being built when people were significantly shorter on average. (Seriously - anyone who went to a Stake Conference there thought twice of it again) Plus the Provo area needed an other temple. 

[jbarm]

I visited the Kirtland Temple about a month ago. What a beautiful place.

To tour the temple one has to make a $5 donation and go through a presentation at the CoC visitor center.  Visitor center presentation was a bit on the ecumenical CoC side, light on the Mormon or mention of LDS (or RLDS) side of things.

Our guide was, however, wonderful.  He recognized that the people in our group had LDS backgrounds and gave the unvarnished history.

We even sang 'The Spirit of God' in the temple, accompanied by one of our group who played the piano, as suggested by our CoC guide.  Awesome experience singing that song in the original temple!

I was impressed by how much cooperation there was between the CoC  folks and the LDS folks in suggesting tours at each others location without prompting.  Very nice.

I cannot imagine that anything would be modified in the temple if the LDS Church acquires it.  80% or more of the building is original, which is amazing.  The priesthood podiums/stands are really cool and this is the place where Joseph, Hyrum and so many had manifestations of the spirit.  No way that I can imagine anyone will make architectural changes to this magnificent building.

Interesting that the RLDS used to have a 'family reunion' camp on the grounds of the temple every year until the early 1960's.  Per our guide, who attended these camps as a child, RLDS would gather from all over and would camp in tents on the grounds and have various types of meetings. These were a very big deal to them back in the day.

Now that the Kirtland Temple family camps are fading into history and few CoC meetings are held there anymore (Easter and Christmas?) plus the current de-emphasis of the whole Mormon thing in the CoC, I wonder if the Kirtland temple will be eventually be seen as non-essential by the CoC.  Then we may see a sale of the Kirtland Temple to the LDS Church.

jb

 

[california boy]

On 9/22/2017 at 6:06 AM, thesometimesaint said:

I think the CoC has pretty well abandoned Joseph Smith. They are just another Protestant church at this point. If we were to buy the Kirkland Temple keep it just as a museum of early Church History.

Why do you say that?

[thesometimesaint]

17 hours ago, strappinglad said:

Is it true that the Kirtland temple was at one time used to house animals?

Yes.