211. The Palmyra Temple -- The rest of the story -- (History)

Subject: Palmyra Temple--Rest of the Story

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We rarely know all the details of a completed temple.   Much goes on in the months and years prior to its completion.   The Palmyra, NY temple is no exception and the story is one of great vision, insight and the Lord's intervention.

The story starts years before, perhaps years before anyone thought to build a temple here.    In 1907 Apostle George Albert Smith purchased a portion of the original Smith farm for $16,000.   In 1915 he sold it to the Church for $1.00 and President Joseph F. Smith called Bro Willard Bean and wife Rebecca on a 5 year mission to manage the farm and be the first stationary missionaries in the area since the Saints removed to Ohio in 1830.  They served here for 25 years! making numerous improvements to the farm,  softening the attitudes of the local residents, helping the Church to acquire more of the farm, and even the hill we now call the Hill Cumorah.  The Hill Cumorah pageant had its beginnings during this time.  Many missionaries, Church leaders, and others toured the area and had numerous meetings in the Sacred Grove.   Many stayed with the Bean family in the original -but much updated- frame house that Alvin Smith began the year prior to his death at age 25.

From that time to the 1990's not a lot of change occurred other than gradually acquiring more and more of the previously Church owed property.   About this time President Gordon B. Hinckley -whether thru his own vision for the area or the Lord's, I don't know, though I believe they are often the same- determined it was time to make this area into a more visible, tourist friendly, and testimony-building site.  Plans were laid to restore the frame house to its original 1830 appearance, add a log house replica, 1830's style fencing, missionary housing, a new larger stake center, a visitors center at Hill Cumorah, and a Temple. Where the temple would be was not immediately apparent due to the following "issue".

President Hinckley directed the construction of a log house replica of the log home the Smiths built 2 years after arriving in Palmyra.  It turned out that the original foundation was located using aerial infrared photography and archeological excavation but it was inside the then current right of way of Stafford Road.   As a result the site plan required that Stafford Road be rerouted to the east and around the east side of the frame house so that tourists would not have to cross that road -a 55mph 2 lane highway- to visit the Sacred Grove to the west -not a very safe feature for thousands of visitors each year.

The "PROBLEM": to move the highway required obtaining a small piece of the original Smith property still owned by Mr. Ted DeFontaine or "Terrible Ted" as he's known in the boxing circles.  He lived alone in a small older home there and he had no interest at all in selling it to the Church.   This house was situated right where the rerouted highway needed to go.   He had already declined a couple of reasonable offers to purchase his property.   Finally, President Hinckley directed the Real Estate Division to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

One additional problem; timing. President Hinckley wanted the Palmyra Temple -located in the Cradle of the Restoration- to have some numerical significance.   Temple # 100 was coming up in the temple building scheme of things and he thought that was a fitting number for this especially significant historical site.   Thus bringing this all to pass such that a temple could be built here in conjunction with the other site work and other temple building projects being considered around the world was a major coordination effort.

After what I assume would have been a lot of head scratching, the Church made the following offer to Terrible Ted :
1)  Pick any spot on our adjacent property that you would like to have your dream house built
2)  We will build it to your specifications
3)  We will pay you for your property & home (I understand he drove a hard bargain.)
4)  You can live in your new home for the remainder of your life
In exchange:

1)  we will have ownership of your parcel, and tear down your existing home after you move into your new home (thus enabling the Church to proceed with the rerouting of the highway and construction of the log home)

2) upon your death the Church will have total ownership rights to the new house.

Well, as the saying goes, "this was an offer he couldn't refuse" !   So plans were drawn, contracts signed, a site was selected for the new house, and construction completed.   Mr. DeFontaine's family moved his belongings into the new house and the old house was torn down to make way for the highway rerouting.  Oh, did I mention that Mr. DeFontaine didn't immediately actually move himself into his new house ?  He decided to use some of his new monetary wealth to visit Canada.  During the winter he went snowmobiling and sadly -for him- he had a tragic accident and died never having lived in his new home.  (perhaps there is a message here about greed)

Per the contract, his family then moved his belongings out of the house.  Soon President Hinckley made a trip to select the site for the Temple.   After walking the property, guess where he deemed the temple should sit ?   Yes!   Right where DeFontaine wanted his new house to be ..... and where it now was!   So another site was selected on the property, a new foundation set, and the house moved onto the new foundation.   And per the Prophet's (and I presume the Lord's) time frame the temple was constructed and dedicated as the 100th Temple in the millennial year 2000 on April 6th, the 170th anniversary to the day of the organization of the Church.  I think those numbers would certainly be considered special.  Oh, and by the way, the house -the dream house- which wasn't a mansion by any means but a very nice house- became the Temple President's home.

The temple site is located on a hill with a small forest between it and the Smith Farm.   Some trees were removed and others trimmed so that there is a direct view from the temple to the Sacred Grove, two places where our Father In Heaven's presence can be and has been not only felt but seen (by Joseph).  An interesting factoid about the temple: whereas all other temples have either obscured or  stained glass windows, President Hinckley directed the architects to have a clear window in the Palmyra Temple from which patrons in the temple foyer can view the sacred grove.   It is the only temple with a window that is clear.

"And now you know the rest of the story"......or at least as much of it as I've been told.   And though I don't know if any of this has been put into recorded history, my source is the Palmyra Town Clerk who just happens to be LDS, an active member of the Church in the area, and clerk since before all this was happening. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The Smith Farm site and the Palmyra Temple have been a blessing to thousands of people each year -both the living and the dead, both members and non members- for some 13 years now and many more to come.   Its been a true blessing for us to be serving in this area, learning the details of the sacrifices made by so many, so many years ago, as well as the foresight and inspiration of a modern Prophet of God.   We are the beneficiaries of their legacy and have obtained an enriched testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its restoration in these latter days.