WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — In the early 1990s, San Francisco 49ers quarterback and Latter-day Saint Steve Young was packing for training camp and randomly grabbed a T-shirt from a pile in his closet that read: “Kirtland, Ohio, City of Faith and Beauty.”
Young wore the Kirtland T-shirt to football practice on a day when a Sports Illustrated photographer snapped a candid shot of him walking with teammate Joe Montana.
The photo featuring Young in the Kirtland T-shirt appeared in the magazine’s May 31, 1993, issue and led to “miracles” that allowed The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to gain approval from Kirtland City to reroute roads and create “Historic Kirtland Village.”
The story was one of several told by Karl R. Anderson, an 87-year-old historian who specialized in Kirtland and served as a stake president in Cleveland and a stake patriarch in the Kirtland Ohio Stake, during the 59th annual Mormon History Association conference on Friday, June 14.
“We found about 17 separate miracles in getting this T-shirt into Sports Illustrated,” Anderson said. “Literally, miracles.”
The Church’s efforts to build the Historic Kirtland Village were just one part of its return to Kirtland more than 100 years after the Church moved west.
Here is a look back at the Church’s lesser-known return to Kirtland:
First gathering place
From 1831 to 1838, Kirtland, Ohio, served as the first gathering place and the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I give unto the Church, that it is expedient in me that they should assemble together at the Ohio,” the Lord said in Doctrine and Covenants 37:3.
During this era:
- All of the priesthood offices found in the Church today were revealed.
- About one-half of the revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants were revealed, far more than any other location, and the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was printed.
- The School of the Prophets started as part of an educational period for Latter-day Saint leaders.
- Joseph Smith Jr. made his Bible translation and largely translated the Pearl of Great Price.
- More heavenly manifestations occurred there than any other place. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared or were seen in vision four times, and the Savior was seen at least six more times by Joseph Smith.
- The Church’s first temple was built and heavenly messengers restored significant keys.
“We may yet discover that Kirtland is our most significant Church history site,” then-Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said at a BYU devotional in 1994.
Kirtland prophesy
By 1841, most of the Latter-day Saints had left Kirtland.
Then in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith received a revelation from the Lord that became Doctrine and Covenants 124:83: “I, the Lord, will build up Kirtland, but I, the Lord, have a scourge prepared for the inhabitants thereof.”
A letter written in October 1841 to the remaining Saints in Kirtland by the Prophet’s brother, Hyrum Smith, provides additional context: “Thus saith the Lord ... your children may yet possess them [the lands in Kirtland], but not until many years shall pass away ... and then I will send forth and build up Kirtland, and it shall be polished and refined according to my word.”
Timeline
Here are some of the notable dates and events that show the Church’s return to Kirtland.
- The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which later became Community of Christ, obtained legal ownership of the Kirtland Temple in February 1880 and began a restoration of the sacred building.
- 1946 — One Latter-day Saint branch encompassed all of Cleveland and northeastern Ohio.
- 1954 — President David O. McKay dedicated the Lake Road Chapel in Cleveland, the first meetinghouse erected in northeastern Ohio by the Church since the mid-1800s.
- 1956 — The Church purchased the John and Elsa Johnson Home in Hiram, Ohio.
- October 1961 — The Church organized northeastern Ohio into the Cleveland Ohio Stake, including eight wards and three branches, with 2,400 members.
- 1976 — President Spencer W. Kimball initiated the purchase of the Newel K. Whitney store.
- 1977 — Jack Davis was called as the bishop of the Kirtland Ward.
- Jan. 5, 1978 — The first two full-time missionaries, Raymond S. Baum, of La Grande, Oregon, and R. Drew Galbraith, of Raymond, Alberta, began living in an upper room of the Whitney store.
- Feb. 3, 1979 — Thirty people attended the baptismal service of 19-year-old Teresa Marie Steigerwald, the first missionary baptism by the Kirtland elders.
- Oct. 14, 1979 — President Ezra Taft Benson presided at the groundbreaking of the Kirtland meetinghouse. At the end of the meeting, President Benson lifted the scourge and said, “Now is the time ... to arise and shine and look forward to great progress in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.”
- Oct. 17, 1981 — President Benson said: “As long as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints endures, and that will be forever, Kirtland, Ohio, will have great significance.”
- Oct. 17, 1982 — President Benson presided at the dedication of the Kirtland meetinghouse.
- Oct. 16, 1983 — The Church organized the Kirtland Ohio Stake with Zane F. Lee as president.
- May 4, 1986 — An arson fire destroyed the Kirtland meetinghouse. It was rebuilt a year later, and President Thomas S. Monson presided at the dedication.
- May 18, 2003 — President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated restored sites known as “Historic Kirtland Village” as part of Ohio’s bicentennial celebration.
- March 5, 2024 — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acquired the Kirtland Temple and other historic properties from the Community of Christ church, announced in a joint statement.
Bars and lifting the scourge
After graduating from the University of Utah in 1966, Anderson was hired by a company that sent him to Cleveland. He was eventually called as a stake president and soon had spiritual impressions about reestablishing the Church in Kirtland.
Since then, his service to the Church in northeastern Ohio has been “a lifelong mission” and labor of love.
He started by scheduling quarterly meetings with leaders of Community of Christ and the city mayor.
“We felt that had to be a background for whatever we did in Kirtland,” he said.
At that time, few people understood the history of the Church in Kirtland. As a result, they wanted to build a visitors’ center, which led to the purchase of several properties in the area where Historic Kirtland now stands. Three were bars, including the Whitney store. The Latter-day Saint who bought the Whitney store before selling it to the Church posted a sign that read, “Welcome: Home of the Prophet Joseph Smith. No Profanity Please,” much to the dismay of the business owner.
“And of course, that’s where the Word of Wisdom was given,” Anderson said, sparking laughter.
The Church acquired another one of the taverns when Anderson had a timely spiritual impression to inquire about its availability. The owner was on the verge of leasing the property to the business for another seven years, but preferred to sell it and allowed the Church to purchase it.
Anderson was there in 1979 when President Benson lifting the “scourge.”
“Everything that you see in Kirtland today has happened since that happened,” he said. “That is a literal miracle, and it was the Lord’s timetable.”
The rest of the Steve Young story
To create the Historic Kirtland Village, the Church needed approval from the City Council to reroute two century-old roads that ran through the heart of the historic village. Kirtland’s mayor, Mario Marcopoli, said he lacked support from the council and suggested Anderson “pray to the man upstairs.”
Anderson prayed. Weeks later the mayor called and asked if Anderson had seen the latest issue of Sports Illustrated with the photo of Steve Young’s T-shirt. Young had received the T-shirt years earlier as a gift for participating in the city’s Strawberry Days celebration. His great-great-great-grandfather, Brigham Young, resided in Kirtland before moving on with the Saints.
The mayor said one of the council members had seen the photo and asked if the Church could purchase it and have it placed in Kirtland City Hall. The Church purchased the enlarged photo, framed it, and it was hung in the entryway to the City Council chambers.
As it turned out, the 49ers had a Monday night game in Cleveland against the Browns, and Young arranged to meet with the City Council in the team hotel and “signed everything in sight,” Anderson said, which fostered goodwill between the Church and city officials. The council later voted unanimously to approve the bypass.
“It took several other approvals, but ‘I, the Lord, will build up Kirtland,’ it says in Doctrine and Covenants,” Anderson said. “I wish I could tell you other stories, because there were all kinds of miracles, but the Lord has done this.”
Reflections of the 1st Kirtland Ward
In 1975, Jack Davis was unexpectedly transferred to manage an underground salt mine in the Kirtland area, despite lacking mining experience. While initially puzzled by this assignment, Davis soon understood its purpose when he was called to be the bishop of the Kirtland Ward on June 5, 1977.
The Kirtland Ward’s first meetings were held in the auditorium at Lakeland Community College, just north of the Kirtland Temple. The bishopric quickly began extending callings and planning sacrament meetings.
“It became very evident that a lot of well-trained and faithful members had moved into the Kirtland Ward boundaries as inspired by the Lord,” Davis said. “It was evident that the Lord’s hand was in each of their transfers to the area.”
The college was not always available, and the ward had to find other places to meet. Before it had its own chapel, the congregation also met in banks, several local schools, libraries, community halls and other locations.
Youth, Primary and Relief Society meetings were held in homes or wherever possible. Some meetings were held in the historic Newel K. Whitney store, which required a lot of clean up because it was formerly used as a tavern.
Elaine Davis, the bishop’s wife, taught early morning seminary classes in the same room where the School of the Prophets was held. When teaching about revelation on the Word of Wisdom, she was able to point out the very tobacco stains in the room, which made for an effective, spiritual lesson, the bishop said.
Meetings in the Whitney store didn’t last long because the local fire marshal soon declared the historic building unsafe and ordered them to evacuate.
To help raise money for their new meetinghouse, ward members prayed for help and then went to work. They did inventories for local businesses, did cleanup projects, poured concrete, organized monthly dinners and engaged in other fundraisers. Some members contributed personal funds from work bonuses, salary increases and sacrificed funds for vacations. During construction, members also provided volunteer labor.
“There is no end to the stories of blessings received by participation in our building fund,” Davis said.
Davis was released as bishop of the Kirtland Ward in 1982 when his work took him to Louisiana. The 90-year-old Davis now lives in Kamas, Utah. He said the experience was a great blessing for his family, and it’s a favorite topic when the family gets together. To see how it has “blossomed” warms his heart.
“I played a very small role in it, but the members there played a fantastic role in it,” he said. “Every church has choice people, and they are there for a reason. But for Kirtland, it was something else.”
Right people, right time
Alex Baugh, a BYU professor of Church history, was already familiar with most of the Kirtland story but says it clearly shows how the Lord has the right people in the right place at the right time.
“It takes just an incredible amount of sacrifice by those who He has in the area to make these things happen, and it comes slowly, but it comes,” he said. “Kirtland is the place where you can see the Lord’s hand in multiple people ... in bringing about His purposes to fulfill the promises of this area scripturally and prophetically. So I just see that even more evident again today.”
Maxine Hanks, an independent historian, presented on the Church’s return to Kirtland in 1977. She collaborated with Jennifer Davis Fernald, the daughter of Jack Davis, on the project after she was inspired by the members and their faith.
“It illustrated how God can use us, anytime, in small and big ways, if we are open and trust the promptings,” Hanks said. “I felt I should gather and preserve the story, even though I was so busy with other things, and I wasn’t sure anyone other than a few archivists would be interested. Then the timing turned out to be synchronistic with the Church’s purchase of the temple and the Mormon History [Association] conference in Kirtland. ... The other aspect that I love about this Kirtland Ward story is that it illustrates powerfully how the Church functions on the ground level — in the ward. That’s where religion is lived, experienced, changes lives and history.”
