Kirtland prospered for a time after the Temple was built. The population grew to 2000. Land increased in value greatly. When the Kirtland Safety Society Bank failed in 1837, as did other banks who got caught up in the "Panic of 1837", many Kirtland residents lost a lot of their worldly wealth. Some of the LDS members apostatized during this period. Many of those not affiliated with the LDS Church refused to do business with the LDS people or employ them.

On January 12,1838, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, a counselor to Joseph Smith, fled Kirtland in the middle of the night. Most of the other LDS people eventually followed them to Missouri, where they settled for a time, before making their way to Nauvoo, and eventually to the Rocky Mountains.

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