Mormon exodus from Ohio did not need a house of worship as large as the temple, so they used it as a barn. They made a sloping driveway into the basement, using that large room as a shelter for the milch cows of the community during the winter months", "while they filled the ground floor room with sheep" Present day The Kirtland Temple was used as the meetinghouse for Kirtland's RLDS congregation until the 1950s, when a modern church was built across the street. Today, the temple is usually experienced through guided tours, community services, and prearranged meetings for out-of-town groups. Each year tens of thousands take tours of the temple. Temple guides are typically local residents, usually but not always members of the Community of Christ. During the busy summer months, college-aged adults augment the Temple's staff as part of the Alma Blair Internship Program. Throughout the year, other volunteers travel to the temple for stints as guides, maintenance staff, or gardeners. There are about 50 worship services and/or educational events held each year at the Kirtland Temple. The temple holds community services for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Holy Week, as well as the annual Emma Smith Hymn Festival in June. Additionally, members of various Latter Day Saint denominations travel to the temple where they are permitted to hold their own services with prior arrangement. A Spiritual Formation and Visitors' Center was opened in March 2007. The center's exterior is inspired by that of the Kirtland Temple, and its layout has been described as reflecting a dove. It enhances the ministries of the temple by providing classroom space, worship space, a multi-use theater, offices, and a small museum. The museum contains artifacts related to the temple and original documents from the Kirtland era. There is also a museum gift shop which features a broad selection of books on Latter Day Saint history and the various expressions of the movement. A historic cemetery and gardens are located outside the temple. Footnotes Further reading Truman O. Angell, Autobiography (1810-1856) in "His Journal," Our Pioneer Heritage 10 (1967):195-213. Marilyn Chiat, North American Churches. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd., 2004. David J. Howlett, Kirtland Temple: The Biography of a Shared Mormon Space. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Roger Launius, The Kirtland Temple: A Historical Narrative. Independence, Missouri: Herald Publishing House, 1986. Elwin C. Robison, The First Mormon Temple: Design, Construction, and