By Christin Mackay
Communications Team

On 6 April 1926, President Frederick M. Smith addressed the seventy-first General Conference at Stone Church in Independence, Missouri, USA:

The start of the work on the Auditorium has brought joy and satisfaction to thousands of Saints, and let us hope that their satisfaction and joy will be intensified and increased by soon being able to look upon it as a splendid, completed building. And when the work on the Auditorium is finished, let us only hope it is only to begin work on other needed buildings.

The concept of a building large enough to hold General Conferences was presented by Smith at the 1917 General Conference. The Conference of 1920 approved construction of the Auditorium, and Henry C. Smith was called as “church architect,” tasked with designing the Auditorium, Independence Sanitarium, and eventually buildings at Graceland University.

The years from 1919 and 1926 were marked by contention within the church. President Smith had an ambitious social-program agenda, including the Sanitarium (hospital), children’s home, and the Auditorium. This agenda clashed with a more fiscally conservative bishopric and other church quorums. In 1919, he offered his resignation, which the church rejected.

By 1921, the church had implemented an austerity program that included releasing nearly seventy missionaries. At the 1922 General Conference, six new apostles were ordained, bringing fresh perspectives and energy to the quorum.

In 1924, President Smith presented a new document to the Standing High Council, outlining his proposal on church governance, commonly known as Supreme Directional Control. Smith hoped to consolidate administrative authority into the First Presidency, which also would allow his building program to proceed without delay. Adopted in 1925, Doctrine and Covenants 135:1 released the Presiding Bishopric and allowed the First Presidency to assume broader control over church finances.

At the time, construction was estimated at $882,000, with some funds already raised. The construction company of Earl Moore and Lyle Weeks was contracted to begin clearing the land, and W.O. Hands acted as the surveyor. The official groundbreaking took place February 1, 1926. Smith wrote in The Saints’ Herald:

A building such as this will be greatly needed and will minister to the progress and spirituality of the Saints. It will become an asset to the whole community of Independence, and Jackson County, as well as the whole church.

By 8 February, grading and excavating work were moving at a rate of 1,000 cubic yards of dirt per day. The church contracted with a firm that used “power machinery,” which proved more economical than hand plows, scrapers, or wagons loaded by shovel. Power tractors loaded dirt onto fifteen horse-drawn wagons for removal. The Saints’ Herald reported:

The citizens of Independence are glad to see this work started. The Saints in Independence are not only glad to see this start made but happy in the consciousness that the church is fulfilling its promise made to the membership when they subscribed their money for this purpose.

The first concrete footing was poured along the south wall May 24, 1926. Marking the occasion, a ceremony was attended by church leaders, a small group of people, and the local press. A box of the heaviest sheet copper obtainable was made for the occasion. It was sixteen inches long, twelve inches wide, and ten inches deep. In this box were placed twenty-one items, including the three standard books of scripture, the first four volumes of church history, current issues of The Saints’ Herald and Zion’s Ensign (missionary paper), the April and May issues of Autumn Leaves (youth periodical), 1926 Graceland Acacia, May 22 issues of the Independence Examiner, Kansas City Times, Kansas City Journal, and Smith’s address to the 1926 General Conference.

The articles were heavily paraffined, wrapped in heavy paper and paraffined again to protect against dampness. The box lid was heavily soldered and made watertight. Smith briefly spoke of his hope that the time never would arise when the box and its contents would be disturbed, but should the contents ever be brought to light, they would “establish the faith and belief of the church.”

In addition to nearly weekly updates in The Saints’ Herald and regular reports in the Autumn Leaves, Stereopticon lantern slides showing construction progress on the Auditorium, along with presentations, were sent to congregations to inform members and encourage donations. The excitement continued into the fall of 1926 with The Saints’ Herald reporting:

The arrival on September 24 of reinforcing steel had made it quite possible that the “Assembly Room” in the lower auditorium could be completed for use by the General Conference in 1927.

The first General Conference in the Auditorium met in the partly completed basement in 1927. Smith commented:

The accommodations will not, of course, be what they will when the basement is finished, but at that they will likely be much better than those of a tent.

As the Conference opened, “there was no glass placed to enclose the building; the doors were just rough boards salvaged from the construction work; the large openings were closed with nothing but canvas; the heating plant was made up of four furnaces, placed in four widely separated corners of the room, a box of soft coal in close proximity to each furnace; the tables were rough boards covered with plaster board; the rough cement floor was covered with wooden shavings from the planning mill; but the Saints who wished to get together in one room at a General Conference were all there.”

The enthusiasm to finish the building led to approval of additional funds, with hopes that the building could be completed by 1930.

By September 1928, general officers and department offices were relocated to the Auditorium. With the move, the Auditorium officially became the church headquarters. Employees would continue to work amid construction until the early 1960s. At the October 1928 General Conference, the church was able to meet in the Conference Chamber for the first time.

However, the building still was not quite enclosed. Elbert A. Smith, a member of the First Presidency, noted during the first Communion service that twelve sparrows had come, nibbling at the Communion bread before being brushed away.

The Laurel Club, a women’s organization, moved into its basement kitchen in the fall of 1928 and served its first meal November 1 to more than 550 people. The Laurels were crucial to the Auditorium’s success. They raised much-needed funds for building projects in the Auditorium and other church buildings by selling cookbooks and meals. Perhaps most importantly, they fed Conference attendees quickly. At the 1930 Conference, they prepared and served about 3,000 meals a day, donating proceeds to the church for needed projects.

Registration for the Centennial Conference of 1930 exceeded 6,000 people. At the Sunday service, almost 200 priesthood members served Communion to more than 12,000 attendees. Evangelist John T. Gresty of Sydney, Australia, was commissioned to compose a grand oratorio, The Course of Time, in the style of the Messiah, to be performed at the Conference.

A centennial pageant, Fulfillment by Alice Chase Burgess and directed by Gladys Newton Six, also was performed. The three-part storyline portrayed the purpose of the church as the “achievement and fulfillment of Christ’s message in Christian living.”

Despite the gathering’s celebratory tone, worldwide financial uncertainty led the General Conference to resolve that “no further constructive expenditures should be made until the general fund has been reimbursed.” Work on the Auditorium stopped by early 1931.

During the war years of the 1940s, a room was set aside in the Auditorium to stage relief supplies for families in need in Europe. Most of the project’s volunteers were women who donated time each week to organize and wrap packages of food and clothing, which were sent regularly to more than 100 families. More than 100,000 pounds of aid were sent.

More than 8,000 people registered for the 1940 Conference, and by January 1943 the church’s debt, carried through the Depression, was retired. Plans to complete and furnish the Auditorium again could be considered. The Presiding Bishopric led several fundraising initiatives to complete the building over the next twenty years, including specially designated Auditorium Days for giving to the Auditorium fund.

Rooms and entrances were finished one at a time as money became available. Over $400,000 was raised to complete the North Entrance and lobby alone.

President Harry S. Truman, a native of Independence, returned to his hometown for the first time as US president June 27, 1945, and more than 10,000 people packed the Conference Chamber to welcome him. In his speech Truman said:

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this demonstration on the part of my people at home. Time and again I have tried to fill this great Auditorium. This is the first time I have ever succeeded.

In 1956, the now-beloved Auditorium Organ was ordered from the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, with the first components delivered in spring 1959. The organ was designed for concert recitals, oratorio accompaniment, and congregational singing. The 110-rank organ (later upgraded to 113), with 6,298 pipes (now 6,334), ninety-four stops, and two consoles, was completed in the fall of 1959. Its first concert was November 6. Installation cost over $115,000. The Amboy Centennial General Conference took place in 1960, with a highlight being the dedication of the Auditorium organ April 7.

Former Presiding Bishop G. Leslie DeLapp wrote in 1961:

The completion of the Auditorium by the next General Conference has the promise of being the most heartwarming experience of my life.

DeLapp’s first impression of the Auditorium came in 1927 at the Easter-morning meeting on the “slab,” now the Conference Chamber floor, and the business session that took place “below the slab” in what now is the Lower Assembly Room. He was very concerned at that Conference that the financial position of the church didn’t justify a project of this magnitude. The request to take a loan of $300,000 with the Auditorium land as collateral had been approved at the 1927 Conference.

DeLapp had served with three church presidents during construction of the Auditorium. He noted:

My office was on the fifth-floor southwest corner. Occasionally when the pressure got too heavy, I would step into the main auditorium at the top of the balcony and envisage its beauty as I looked up toward the dome. I found myself impressed with the symmetry of the ribs pointing toward the apex of the ceiling, with the sunlight throwing its beams upon the walls. The lights and shadows enhanced its grace and majesty. In such periods of meditation, I gained something of the strength embodied in the building.

Originally, the Auditorium’s construction was anticipated to be less than $1 million, but by 1961 the last contract to complete the building had been bid, and the final cost totaled about $4.5 million. The dedication of the early- and mid-20th-century church members who endured wars and immense financial hardship finally came to fruition. The Auditorium was dedicated April 1, 1962. Thousands of church members, three church presidents, hundreds of church officers, staff, and construction teams worked and donated funds for the building over forty-two years. According to DeLapp:

It is impossible to think of the Auditorium without remembering debt. … I can’t help wishing that some of our experiences could be made known to all church members today, for some have never experienced a Depression. The people responded, women’s groups, children’s groups, members of the church, to the challenge to pay the debt and move forward with Auditorium construction.

Many, like Frederick M. Smith and Israel A. Smith, didn’t live to see the Auditorium completed, but their legacy was remembered at the dedication.

In his dedicatory prayer, President F. Henry Edwards said:

We rejoice that in thy wisdom and thy love thou hast joined all generations together, so that those who have gone on before find fulfillment in those who come after them, and these in turn enjoy the fruits of past ministries and look forward to their own fulfillment in the lives of those whose days of opportunity are yet to be…

The Auditorium has been built to thy glory…and for the use of the World Church, and the stakes and the Center Stake, as a place of worship and education and fellowship and of legislative assembly. Here are housed the general offices of the church, and the records…Here the major councils of the church meet…And from this place the word of counsel and the word of direction go forth to enlighten and to unify…

The Auditorium has also been erected that it might be of value to the people of the community. It is offered to this end, with the prayer that those responsible shall be readily perceptive of the ways in which such ministries of those of music and drama and such opportunities for fellowship as achieved in breaking bread together may make for a community of understanding and high unity and soundness of purpose.

In the sixty-four years since that dedication, the church has continued to invest in the Auditorium’s future. In the 1970s, cast concrete panels were added to the east, west, and south exterior walls, and lights were added to the roof by 1980. In the 1990s the rostrum was remodeled, and a wooden floor was installed. Perhaps the most welcome improvements came at the West Entrance, where new restrooms, a new elevator, and a lobby transformed the building.

In 2025, work began to resecure the concrete slabs to the building’s exterior, and brick walls were repointed on the north and east sides. This year a new roof over the west entrance is in progress, and new HVAC and sound systems soon will be installed.

In addition to World Conferences and international leader gatherings, the building welcomes church and community events throughout the year, including recitals and graduations. The Presiding Bishopric is seeking partnerships to increase the Auditorium’s use, benefiting both Community of Christ and the community. The First Presidency shared at World Conference 2025 a commitment to first maintaining the Temple and second, the Auditorium, provided that financial support of the church remains sufficient for operating the structures, and that they continue to serve as productive tools of mission.

The challenge in the coming months and years is not unlike that of the mid-20th-century church, which was challenged financially yet was able to move the building forward, at times brick by brick. Members recognized that building community in Christ sometimes comes with significant setbacks but also is marked with major leaps forward, brought only through individual and communal sacrifice and dedication.

President Stassi Cramm challenged the church at the 2025 World Conference:

We are part of something sacred and still unfolding. Hope is not something we stumble upon. Hope is something we choose. And our collective story reminds us: It is in especially the hardest times that choosing hope becomes an act of faith, an act of courage.

The church members whose contributions made the Auditorium possible lived through some of the most challenging times in recent history and had the courage to act in faith. May we be inspired by their example.

At the General Conference in 1919, Smith addressed the church on the current state of the world, including the tragic loss of life in World War I and the challenges facing the church. Seeking to encourage the church while reflecting on what they had endured, he said:

The work of the church is onward. The progress of the past few years has been encouraging. … Before us lies a great field of opportunity. Are we ready? Have we the courage to approach our ideals, shall we remain below them?

These questions are relevant today. Our response will shape the Auditorium’s future ministries and its ability to bless the church and local community.

May the story of the Auditorium’s construction, and the faith, courage, and hope of those who made it possible, encourage us to boldly pursue our calling and seize the opportunities that stand before us today.