I have a source who has evidence (court records) that shows the early church planned to build the first temple in Oakland Township, PA and close to the current Hale house site. The source claims that a company called the "Office of the Melchizedek" has the deed to the land. Do any of the history buffs out there have more information? Should I pursue this evidence?

Fascinating. That's the first I've heard of it.

That extends the curve of development back by maybe 6 to 8 years. They always wanted a temple. They never knew it would be a Masonic Temple until about 1842.

It's been years since I studied my way out of TSCC but, there was a book I read that had photographs of a cornerstone for a temple in a Pennsylvania town. The books author was sanctioned by TSCC to do limited research 'back east' to uncover anything that might influence popular opinion. I wish I could remember the author and the name of the book. But, the photograph in the book clearly shows a cornerstone and weeds growing around it.

Cake

Although called a "temple," the Kirtland temple was completely different in purpose from the Nauvoo temple. The only similarity would be the "Solemn Assembly" features of both.

The Kirtland temple was basically just to function as the seat of the religion, where the top leaders would preside over special meetings, events and decision-making assemblies. It was a glorified chapel for general worship purposes.

It did not have any of the super secret Masonic elements that were introduced into the Nauvoo temple as a way of keeping their secret polygamy club secret.

The modern temples all trace their key elements back to the Nauvoo temple.

In terms of function, I think the Kirtland temple was closer to the function of the Assembly Hall at Temple Square than it was to the Temple at Temple Square.

in the initial stages, it looked like Joseph Smith and company were planning on establishing the church in that area.

I have not previously come across information about a planned temple location in that area, but it seems very plausible.

If they had planned a temple there and then the plans fell through, that is not something they would want to emphasize or talk about later on. People and organizations don't like to talk about big past failures.

You may want to go through some of the contemporary newspapers about Joseph Smith and his followers in that region.

You can see some of them collected here:

http://www.olivercowdery.com/smithhome/smithtx5bib.htm