the future city of zion

On the 25th of June, 1833, the First Presidency sent letters of instruction to William W. Phelps, Edward Partridge, and the brethren in Zion, and enclosed plans for the future city of Zion and its temples. The first city plat was to be one mile square, divided into blocks containing ten acres each, except the middle range of blocks, which were to contain fifteen acres each. All the blocks, except those containing schools and public buildings, were to be divided into half-acre lots, four by twenty rods each. The dwelling-houses were to stand twenty-four feet from the street. The plat would accommodate from eighteen to twenty thousand inhabitants, and they would need twenty-five buildings for schools and public worship. These buildings would be temples, and none would be less than eighty-seven feet by sixty-one. There were to be no barns or stables in the city, but these were to be situated on lands laid off for that purpose, on the north and south sides of the settlement. The farms would be situated east and west of the city, but the tiller of the soil, as well as the mechanic, merchant, and others, would live in the city. “When this square is thus laid off and supplied, lay off another in the same way,” the Prophet wrote, “and so fill up the world in these last days” (Documentary History, Vol. 1:357).


Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl. Deseret Book. 1965. p.608