As Joseph Smith and others stood near Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, he received a revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 57.
“This is the land of promise, and the place for the City of Zion. And ... the place which is now called Independence is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the courthouse” it reads in section 57:2-3.
Alex Baugh, a BYU professor of Church history, said the Prophet, likely with the assistance of Edward Partridge, the Church’s first bishop, then approached local landowner and businessman Jones H. Flournoy, an early Jackson County resident who acquired the property in 1826.
They purchased the property, and Joseph dedicated the temple site on Aug. 3, 1831.
Two bricks from structures on Flournoy’s property — one from his home and another from the original foundation of a nearby trading post — were among five historic items from the early Church in Missouri that were donated by independent Latter-day Saint historian R. Jean Addams to the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday, Aug. 7.
“The [trading post] brick is a significant artifact, not just because it came from the trading post which Partridge used until the expulsion of the Saints from Jackson County in 1833,” Baugh said. “But perhaps more significantly, the trading post was the first building, albeit a small one, that was actually ‘owned’ by the Church.”
Elder Kyle S. McKay, a General Authority Seventy who serves as Church historian and recorder and as executive director of the Church History Department, accepted with gratitude the donation on behalf of the Church.
Elder McKay said these artifacts, records and histories have one, overarching purpose — “to bear witness of Jesus Christ.”
“I hope that as you look at them, you will somehow see and find Jesus Christ and how He worked in the places that are represented by those bricks,” he said. “All of this is intended to bring us unto Christ. I hope you will allow it to do that.”
Addams’ donation took place in a room full of family, friends and acquaintances in the Church History Library.
Addams, who joined the Church in 1958, was not a trained historian but developed a passion for history the past 20 years by attending Mormon History Association and John Whitmer Historical Association meetings. He presented articles and built bridges with people of other faiths, Baugh said.
Along with the two historic bricks, Addams donated an original bronze mold that was used to produce embedded bronze sidewalk historical markers in Independence; a large, bound volume of correspondence and related history of the Church’s Central States Mission, 1934-1948; and a Book of Mormon printed at Zion’s Printing and Publishing in 1948.
“This volume is unique in that it has a number of variances from other editions of the Book of Mormon,” Baugh said.
Addams, who turns 83 in September, expressed his gratitude and said “it meant a great deal” to donate these items he has owned for 10 to 15 years. He knew one day he would donate them to the Church.
“I’m grateful for my many blessings and the associations I’ve been able to make with our friends of the Restoration who have been so kind and helpful in my quest for knowledge,” he said.
“Missouri will always continue to be a significant focus of our theology and our history,” Baugh said. “Someday the Savior will come again to a Zion located in Jackson County, Missouri, on a spot not far from the courthouse, and it will be a glorious day. So the future of Missouri is still in the future, and it’s such a great thing to think about the significance of this great location, and Jean has done such a wonderful job in helping us understand more about its past but also about its prophetic future.”
Richard E. Turley Jr., who previously served as assistant Church historian, conducted the program.
“The Church depends on generous donors to help fulfill the commandment to keep a record of the Church,” he said. “Jean’s donation helps fill gaps in the record, making it possible for future generations to better understand the sacred past and future in Missouri.”
Alan Morrell, an artifacts curator for the Church History Department, said items like those donated provide “power to connect with the past.”
“To think that these things were witnesses to history,” he said. “We can connect to that history by having these tangible things preserved. If you lose the story of an artifact, you lose the meaning of that artifact.”
