The Zion of our God and the City of Holiness of his people.

The historic Jackson County Courthouse in Independence, Missiouri, was built on the location of an earlier two-story brick courthouse, one-half mile east of the temple site and mentioned by the Lord in revelation (see  D&C 57:3 ).

“Let Israel gather to the stakes of Zion in all nations. Let every land be a Zion to those appointed to dwell there. Let the fulness of the gospel be for all the saints in all nations. Let no blessing be denied them. Let temples arise wherein the fulness of the ordinances of the Lord’s house may be administered. But still there is a center place, a place where the chief temple shall stand, a place to which the Lord shall come, a place whence the law shall go forth to govern all the earth. … And that center place is what men now call Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, but which in a day to come will be the Zion of our God and the City of Holiness of his people. The site is selected; the place is known; the decree has gone forth; and the promised destiny is assured” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], Bruce R. McConkie (1915–1985)).