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My conception of the planned Strangite Temple at Voree.

From October 6th through 9th, 1847, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints held its semi-annual General Conference in Voree, Wisconsin, under the leadership of President James J. Strang, “Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator unto the church.” On the second day of the conference, the Saints met “on the Temple lot for the purpose of breaking ground for the Temple.”[1]

According to the conference minutes, “John E. Page, Pres. of the Twelve, acted as master of ceremonies, and arranged the congregation in the order of rank and priesthood, beginning with the First Presidency at the principal gate of the Temple.” After the congregation sang “How Firm a Foundation,” President Strang and President William Marks walked to the center of the Temple lot and offered the dedicatory prayer. They then returned to their original position and began breaking ground for the Temple. They were followed, in turn, “by the several quorums in the order in which they were placed.”[2]

While the priesthood quorums were excavating, “Pres. Strang explained the pattern of the Temple,” which differed from the Kirtland and Nauvoo Temples in several interesting respects. In the first place, the plan called for 12 two-story halls, positioned around an outer wall of the complex. These buildings, 32×32 feet wide each, were designated “for record offices, halls of quorums, &c.”[3] Nauvoo had a special meeting hall for the Seventies a dozen blocks from the Temple; in Voree, all the quorums would have halls that were part of the Temple complex itself.[4]

The space between the outer halls and the main building was designated as two “Outer Courts.” On the above diagram, the Temple complex faces north and the Outer Courts are to the left and right (on the east and west sides) of the main building. Pulpits were to be set up along the exterior walls of the main building facing each Outer Court, allowing for two very large congregations to meet simultaneously. Above the pulpits, resting in part on iron columns, were two of the main building’s three towers. The third and chief tower was to be built above the north entrance. It was estimated that from the top of the tower, an observer would be able to “overlook the country for some 20 miles.”[5]

The main building or “Inner Court” was more conventionally like the Kirtland and Nauvoo Temples “having two principal stories, each arranged in one entire room, about 170 feet by 100.” The Kirtland Temple faced east and had its entrance to the east, with pulpits flanking the east and west rooms on both principal stories. Nauvoo was the same except that it faced west. Voree, by contrast, faced north, had entrances both north and south, and had its pulpits on the east and west.[6]

As planned, the main building of the Voree Temple would have been larger than the Kirtland Temple, but smaller than the Nauvoo Temple. The additional outer buildings would have made the complete work much more substantial than either. Strang estimated that the construction would require “some 3,000 or 4,000 cords of stone.” As of the dedication, he and his church had 30 cords on hand.[7]

Like the early church’s temples in Independence and Far West, Missouri, the Voree Temple never got past the dedication and early foundation phases. The remaining minutes of the same General Conference hint at one of the factors that hindered the work. The church excommunicated and “delivered over to the buffetings of Satan till the day of the coming of the Lord” (or in some cases “until he repent and make satisfaction”) a large number of former Strangite leaders including: John C. Bennett of the First Presidency, William Smith the Presiding Patriarch, Apostles William E. McLellin and James M. Adams, along with Benjamin C. Ellsworth, John Greenhow, John C. Gaylord, and Jacob Bump.[8] It was not long before Voree was awash with dissenters, many of whom actively opposed James Strang and his organization.

Even more importantly, the Saints in Voree were horribly impoverished and the already settled condition of the surrounding farms meant that they were unable to pull themselves up by improving virgin land. As of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Voree Temple, 18 Strangites had become the first permanent Mormon residents of Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. The island lacked dissidents and had unsettled land in abundance—the opposite of Voree. Although Beaver Island was initially conceived of as a colony and a source for “cedar timber” for the Temple, it soon became much more. By 1849, James Strang himself had relocated to the island, bringing with him the headquarters of his church. After their prophet’s departure, the Strangite Saints maintained a presence in Voree, but the move all but assured that the Temple would never be constructed. With James’ martyrdom in 1856, even that remote possibility was extinguished.

Although unbuilt, the planned the Voree Temple was a fascinating proposal for a continuation of the Mormon Restoration. As with so much of James Strang’s ministry, the plan built upon Joseph Smith’s foundation while adding fresh innovations. I have often wondered and imagined what might have happened had Joseph not met an untimely end. James’ similarly deep well of inspiration leaves me pondering the same “what might have beens” about his own untimely end.

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[1] Gospel Herald [Voree, Wisconsin Territory] 2, no. 30 (October 14, 1847): 122 [174].

[2] Ibid.

[3] Gospel Herald [Voree, Wisconsin Territory] 2, no. 32 (October 28, 1847): 135 [187].

[4] Although the twelve halls are not identified, we can speculate that they might be assigned to 1. The First Presidency, 2. The Quorum of the Twelve, 3. The Presiding High Council, 4. The Presiding Bishopric, 5. The Presiding Patriarch, 6. The Stake Presidency, 7. The Quorums of the High Priests, 8. The Quorums of the Seventy, 9. The Quorums of Elders, 10. The Quorums of Priests, 11. The Quorums of Teachers, and 12. The Quorums of Deacons.

[5] Gospel Herald [Voree, Wisconsin Territory] 2, no. 32 (October 28, 1847): 135 [187].

[6] Ibid.

[7] Gospel Herald [Voree, Wisconsin Territory] 2, no. 30 (October 14, 1847): 123 [175].

[8] Ibid., 122 [174].