Steve L. Olsen, Director of Operations at the Museum of Church History and Art, asserts that early Latter-day Saints believed that people of God from the time of Enoch and Melchizedek have awaited the return to earth of Zion, the heavenly city that served as God’s eternal abode. In accordance with Joseph Smith’s revelations, the Saints accepted the divine charge to "establish Zion," or prepare the earth and its inhabitants for its prophesied return at the end of time. Although Zion was never fully realized in the nineteenth century, this social and territorial ideal helped Latter-day Saints establish a religious community and create one of the most extensive, distinctive, and enduring culture regions of North America. This publication is a study of the origins and early transformations of this settlement ideal in Mormon thought and practice.