Nestled within the beauty of Historic Kirtland, the Kirtland Sawmill stands as one of the few functioning sawmills from the 1830s.
The Kirtland Sawmill was built by the Church to provide work for newly gathered Saints and to process lumber for the building up of Kirtland, including the construction of the temple. On land owned by Newel K. Whitney and through the expertise of Joel Hills Johnson, the sawmill was constructed in 1834 to "cut lumber for the Lord's house."
A typical day for those building the temple began at the sawmill with a prayer meeting seeking a blessing upon the day's labor. Those working on the Temple itself then walked up the hill while the six or so men laboring at the sawmill went to work.
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