Jonestown was not the original name of the settlement, and the exact date when it became to be known as Jonestown \u2013 if in fact there were a conscious decision to call it that \u2013 is unknown.<\/p>\n
The first formal designation of the project was as a \u201cBranch Church and Agricultural Mission\u201d in Guyana, as described in a resolution<\/a> passed by the Temple\u2019s Board of Directors on October 8, 1973.\u00a0 Its most formal name in its early years of development and construction was the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project. However, many would-be emigrants to Guyana referred to it as \u201cFreedom Land\u201d or \u201cThe Promised Land,\u201d or even more familiarly as \u201cFL\u201d or \u201cPL\u201d (as in the example of an undated \u2013 but certainly no earlier than mid-1976 \u2013 checklist for permanent residents<\/a> going over.)<\/p>\n The earliest\u00a0known reference to the community as “Jonestown” came in\u00a0October 1974 during a sermon by Jim Jones<\/a> in San Francisco. “There\u2019ll be a banquet dinner for Jonestown,” he said, and then referring to Guyana Primer Minister Forbes Burnham, he continued, “The president of that free country has named it Jonestown, as you know.” The last three words suggest that there are previous references, although they have not yet been uncovered.<\/p>\n