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Show President McKay Dedicates New Palmyra Chapel David O. McKay, 88-year-old president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will dedicate a new chapel of his faith in Palmyra, New York Sunday. This is an event of particular significance to the 1,700,000 Mormons in the world since it was near there that the church was founded 130 years ago. Joseph Smith, first prophet-president prophet-president of the sect, a native of Vermont, was living at Palmyra at the time he received heavenly visitations, according to Mormon (belief, which resulted in the "restoration of the gospel in the latter days." The church was formally organized with six members at Fayette, near the present city of Waterloo in the nearby Seneca County, April 6, 1830. It was from the Hill Cumorah near Palmyra that Joseph Smith unearthed the golden plates that contained the records and history his-tory of the early inhabitants of the western hemisphere which constitute the Book of Mormon. The book was first published in Palmyra in 1830. A religious historical pageant, "Americas Witness for Christ," is presenetd on the Hill Cumorah each summer by the church. The new chapel, completed in November, is of colonial design and contains, in addition to the central meeting hall, classrooms, kitchens, offices and recreational facilities. It was designed by William F. Thomas of the building build-ing department in cooperation with the artchitectural firm of Ellsworth H. Tidd, Georgetown, Mass. Total cost was about $200,-000. $200,-000. It is one of approximately 400 building projects the church has in progress in various parts of the world. Samuel J. Ferrguson is head of the Palmyra congregation of the church which numbers 173 members. It is a branch of the church's Eastern States Mission with headquarters in New York City, and of which Gerald Smith is president. |