Downtown Independence, Missouri

Photographs: the Boswell family, the place where Joseph Smith dedicated the Independence temple site (owned by Church of Christ Temple Lot), the Old Stone Church (Community of Christ), the LDS Visitors' Center in Independence

On Tuesday morning, June 1st, Rand and I got up and had a yummy breakfast with the Boswell family and then bid our farewells to them. Then we went into Independence to take a closer look at the Community of Christ temple and the other buildings around the intersection of Maple Street and River Road. The Community of Christ owns two of the corner properties at that intersection (one for their temple and one for their large auditorium), the Church of Christ Temple Lot (another splinter LDS group) owns another corner and the LDS Church owns the fourth corner (where the LDS Visitors' Center is located). The corner owned by the Temple Lot group contains the spot where Joseph Smith stood and dedicated the site for the building of a temple. Just a block down from there, the Community of Christ built their first building, back in the late 1800s. It's called the Old Stone Church (you can see why) and has beautiful stained glass windows depicting scenes from the restoration.

After our short foray into Independence, I dropped Randl off at the Kansas City airport and headed north toward Omaha, Nebraska.