Independence

 Late in the afternoon, we piled into the van and drove down to the Independence Visitor's Center. It's very similar to the Mesa center we're used to.

 Owen was excited by this room. You can hear the apostle's giving their testimonies. 

 THIS was fun! 3 screens set up to tell stories about Nephi, Helaman, & Moroni.

 Gideon soaking up the Llyfr Mormon (Welsh Book of Mormon).

Down in the basement you get a taste of the history of Independence from the 1800s! It's so fun!

 Owen taking a snooze. Dave commented that this little cabin was a lot like our apartment in Mesa. :) Cozy cozy. 

 Learning about the printing press.

 Standing with The Man!

 And yes, there is a pioneer play place for the kids!!  How cute!

 The wagon was full of plates and cups and wooden toys.

 Dave and Luke had a wild game of chess while Gid checked on the chicken. ;)

 Gideon got my camera again. :)

 Don't fall in!!  The boys were putting toys in the bucket and dumping them out and trying to collect them into the bucket again.

This is how we ride the elevators. :) They always sit down, it's hilarious.  

 Community of Christ's temple is across the street from the visitor's center and also across from our temple lot.

 That's our perty visitor's center. Love the arches. Mom says the original temple plan had lots of arches, so i like that the visitor's center has them.

On our way up to the temple lot. 

 "The Independence Temple was the first temple commanded to be built in this dispensation.

The Temple Lot is located in Jackson County—revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith to be the location of the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were driven out, they dwelt in Adam-ondi-Ahman.

Bishop Edward Partridge paid $130 for the original 63.27-acre parcel that constitutes the larger Temple Lot.

In a revelation given on July 20, 1831, the Lord designated the location for the Independence Temple and declared Independence as the center place for the city of Zion.

In obedience to a commandment received the day before, twelve men representing the twelve tribes of Israel laid a symbolic foundation for the city of Zion on August 2, 1831, and consecrated the land for the gathering of the saints.

Joseph Smith presided over the dedication of the Independence Temple site on August 3, 1831, and laid the northeast and southeast cornerstones (or corner markers).

Joseph Smith revealed his plan for the City of Zion in June 1833, which featured a complex of 24 temples in the center of a city with wide streets crossing at right angles.

A mob attacked the settlement of the Saints in Independence on July 20, 1833, destroying their press. Persecution increased in the ensuing months and by November, the Saints were forced to flee and locate temporarily in Clay County and then in Caldwell County where they established Far West.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began purchasing property in Independence in 1904, eventually acquiring nearly 20 of the original 63 acres.

While excavating for the foundation of a temple in 1929, the Church of Christ discovered the northeast and southeast cornerstone markers. The Great Depression set in shortly thereafter, and the temple was never built, but the stones are now on display in the Church of Christ's visitors' room.

In 1971, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated a visitors' center, which offers insight into the significance of the past and future of the area.

Prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, a magnificent edifice—the New Jerusalem Temple—will be erected on the location of the Temple Lot."

I had printed off the Mormon Walking Tour, so we drove around a few of the sites. ... that were not really marked so we didn't know if what we were looking at was right or not. ;) But it's still cool to know where things were at one time. 

This building wasn't on the tour... but it's cute and it says INDEPENDENCE on it... so there you go. 

I REALLY wanted this brick building to be the old printing press. The one in the stories about Mary Elizabeth and Caroline rescuing pages from the Doctrine and Covenants, but that original printing office was destroyed (what is wrong with people?!!?!) and never rebuilt. 

"The first paper published in Independence, The Evening and the Morning Star, appeared from the Mormon press located on the west side of south Liberty Street in June 1832. W.W. Phelps, the church printer, and his family resided here. On July 20, 1833, local demanded a halt to publication of the paper. After Phelps declined an ultimatum to cease publication of the church newspaper and leave the county, the press was thrown into the street. Partially printed sheets of the church's Book of Commandments were removed and place in an old log stable behind the building. A. Sidney Gilbert's nieces, Mary Elizabeth and Caroline, risked their lives to successfully rescue some copies of the publication. A large tree trunk was forced through the lower windows of the printing office and used to wrench the brick building from its foundation. The roof was drawn into the street. The press was heavily damaged and the office demolished." 

So let's just pretend this is what the place looked like. :) The original actually would have been just across the street from this, which is just an empty parking lot now.

"The 1827 county jail was located at the back of the lot at the southeast corner of present-day Main and Truman. An outside stairway to the upper room was the only way to enter the 16 X 16-foot-square hewn-log structure. Prominent Mormons, A. Sidney Gilbert, William McLellin, John Corrill, and Isaac Morley, were jailed in the lower dungeon in Novemeber 1833. A decade later, Orrin Porter Rockwell was held in the second jail built on this site. The present building on this site was a fire station and today serves as the Truman Home ticket office.

When the two cultures clashed again in the fall of 1833 armed conflict highlighted the violence. Church leaders in Independence were arrested following a battle between opposing sides in Christian Whitmer's cornfield in Kaw Township. A party of Mormons, under the leadership of Lyman Wight, on their way to aid jailed church leaders, were met by and surrendered to the local militia just west of town on present day Lexington.

By means of night raids and heightened violence, citizens emboldened by disarming the Mormons, forced church members to flee the county for their lives. The largest group of disciples fled north and crossed the Missouri as quickly as possible. Survivors endured the remainder of the season huddled in makeshift shelters along the cottonwood bottoms in Clay County. The Mormon stay in Clay County spanned two years, meanwhile hope for a return to their Jackson County lands faded. A new sanctuary was found in 1836. Caldwell County, a special county just for Mormons, was carved from Northern Ray County. Forced into flight again, the church was expelled from the state following the 1838 Mormon War."

 The Historic Truman Courthouse

"The northwest corner of Liberty and Lexington is the site of the Gilbert and Whitney & Co. Church store, purchased in November 1832 by A. Sidney Gilbert. In 1833, Mormon leaders met here with opponents who demanded the church's removal from the county. On July 20,1833, 500 men gathered to demolish the establishment. Gilbert agreed to close the store. In November 1833, the business was again targeted for destruction, its doors battered open and contents strewn into the street. During the exodus of the Mormons from Jackson County, Gilbert and his family fled to Clay County, where he died of cholera in 1834."

 We left the quiet little town, our minds full of everything that happened there and WILL happen there. It's like being in the story Sleeping Beauty, where the whole kingdom is under a magic spell.

The fields are full of hay rolls and i can't seem to get a good picture of them, but I love them!!  And also in the picture is the bridge crossing the Missouri River.

 And there she be, the wide Missouri. But more importantly, our dirty car window. :)