High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Temple Lot, located in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, is the first site to be dedicated for the construction of a temple in the Latter Day Saint movement. The area was dedicated on Wednesday, August 3, 1831 by the movement`s founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., and purchased on December 19, 1831 by his colleague Edward Partridge to be the center of the New Jerusalem or "City of Zion" after he received a revelation stating that it would be the gathering spot of the Saints during the Last Days.