Kirtland Temple purchased by LDS church for $192.5 million

(RNS) — In a stunning announcement Tuesday afternoon (March 5), Community of Christ — a Midwestern denomination that traces its founding to Mormon prophet Joseph Smith Jr. — said it has sold the Kirtland, Ohio, temple that was the first temple for either denomination. 

The transfer, effective Tuesday, included not just the nearly 200-year-old temple but several other major properties, including:

The Smith Family Homestead, the Mansion House and the Red Brick Store, all in Nauvoo, Illinois.
The Joseph Smith Translation manuscripts for Smith’s translation of the Bible.
The “Caractors” document of the Book of Mormon translation.
A door from the Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith was once imprisoned.
Letters and portraits of Joseph and Emma Smith.

The only major historic property seemingly omitted from the sale is the Smith Family Cemetery in Nauvoo, which will remain in the custody of Community of Christ.

“The sale price of $192.5 million USD reflects an agreement between Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after an extended period of conversation and negotiation,” a statement from Community of Christ explained. “The agreement does not detail prices for specific items but rather a price for the entire agreed-upon set of items, documents, and properties.”

Historian David Howlett, a professor at Smith College and author of the book “Kirtland Temple: The Biography of a Shared Mormon Sacred Space,” said he received the news Monday from a Community of Christ church leader who was in tears.

Howlett said he is in mourning as well, and noted that for Community of Christ members, the Kirtland Temple isn’t just a historic artifact. 

“Our love for the temple is beyond something that happened in the 1830s that provided LDS with priesthood keys to perform certain ritual actions,” he said. “There are all kinds of other stories. The person who babysat me when I was little helped to work on the restoration of the Kirtland Temple in the 1930s or 1940s, and somewhere in my parents’ house are two nails that he pulled out. People I know have gotten married in the temple, or camped outside it on the grounds, or given tours of the building.”

He understands, though, that “people have to make hard choices,” and he has long recognized the financial bind that Community of Christ has found itself in. The church’s goal to make the temple and other historic sites “revenue-neutral” has meant that the denominational budget has taken a hit, and that budget has been shrinking for years, Howlett said. In 2010, the average age of a tithing Community of Christ member was 69, which was even older than for mainline Protestants. Viewed from that angle, he said, Community of Christ “is lucky to have a buyer with a $100 billion endowment, because there are a lot of other old churches from the 1830s that people value emotionally but that no one else wants to buy.”

The projected income and expenses of Community of Christ for the next decade. (Line graph from Community of Christ website)

On its website, Community of Christ noted that the sale will ease but not erase its financial burden; in its words, “the sale does not cover the projected decline” it foresees for the future. By 2034, it projects having a significant annual gap between its revenue and its expenses.

For Howlett’s part, one thing that helps to ease the pain is knowing the LDS church “will preserve this with immaculate historic renovations.” For its part, the LDS church’s statement Tuesday emphasized that the Kirtland Temple “will remain a historic building” and will still be open to the public. Its 188 other temples that have been dedicated are open only to members in good standing who hold a “temple recommend,” and nonmembers can only tour the buildings before their dedication.

One of the historic events that was already planned for the Kirtland Temple in 2024 is the Mormon History Association’s annual meeting in June. The Sunday devotional portion of the conference will take place inside the temple. Howlett, who is the current president of the MHA, did not yet know whether the organization will commemorate the building’s transfer in some way. 

Columnist Jana Riess at the top of the Kirtland Temple. Community of Christ announced Tuesday that the building, along with several other historic sites, has been sold to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Courtesy photo)

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