The earliest founding events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took place in the state of New York. In 1820, a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith Jr. experienced a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees near his family’s farm in Palmyra. In 1823, an angel directed Joseph to a hill in Manchester, where Joseph found a set of golden plates containing the Book of Mormon, a record of ancient peoples who had believed in Jesus Christ.Between April and June 1829, Joseph produced a translation of the Book of Mormon, which was first offered for sale in Egbert Grandin’s printing shop in Palmyra in March 1830.
On April 6, 1830, people who believed Joseph had been called by God to restore Christian truths gathered at the home of Mary and Peter Whitmer in Fayette, New York, to formally establish the “Church of Christ.” As the Church (officially named The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1838) grew, its center of gravity shifted westward. But New York still retained significance as the site of early Church history and as an international point of entry for an increasingly global Church membership.
On April 6, 2000, 170 years after the Church was organized, the Palmyra New York Temple was dedicated. The temple overlooks the Sacred Grove and other historic sites. The first temple in New York City, the Manhattan New York Temple, was dedicated on June 13, 2004.
Church members in New York are engaged members of their communities. In 2012, following Hurricane Sandy, church members formed teams of Helping Hands volunteers and helped clear away debris from homes and community structures damaged by flooding.