History of Kirtland, Ohio, USA

During most of the 1830s there were two gathering places for Latter-day Saints, one in western Missouri and the other in northeastern Ohio. Although more members gathered to the Missouri frontier, Kirtland, Ohio, was the principal administrative headquarters of the Church and the major base for directing missionary work from 1831 until early 1838.

Latter-day Saint growth in northeastern Ohio began not long after the Church was organized in 1830. The Church was introduced into Ohio in late October 1830 and within a month gained 135 new members, of whom about 35 lived in Kirtland township (see Lamanite Mission of 1830-1831). Joseph Smith and his family moved there early in 1831, and in the spring and early summer of that year, other Latter-day Saints, primarily from Ohio and New York, followed. Although the Prophet made two trips to Missouri and lived for a time in nearby Hiram, Ohio, from the summer of 1832 until 1838 the Kirtland area was his primary residence.

The larger part of the first wave of Latter-day Saint settlers in Kirtland moved to Missouri before the end of 1831. The major growth of the LDS population in Kirtland began in 1833. The number rose from approximately 100 in that year to 2,000 in 1838. During the decade preceding the Mormon immigration, the population of the township doubled, increasing from 481 in 1820 to 1,018 in 1830. During the ensuing seven years, primarily as a result of immigration of Latter-day Saints, the population tripled...