Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona
Remove ads

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the second-largest religious denomination in Arizona, behind the Roman Catholic Church.[3] In 2022, the church reported 439,411 members in Arizona, about 6% of the state's population. According to the 2014 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, roughly 5% of Arizonans self-identify most closely with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[4]

Quick facts Area, Members ...
Remove ads

History

Summarize
Perspective
More information Year, Membership ...

Mormon Battalion

Further information: Mormon Battalion § Battle of the Bulls, and Mormon Battalion § Capture of Tucson

The first presence of Latter-day Saints in Arizona was the Mormon Battalion. They marched through what is now southern Arizona in 1846 on the way to California as part of the Mexican–American War. They encountered wild cattle bulls and killed several of them in defense. They passed through Tucson (then a town of 400–500 inhabitants) causing an attachment of Mexican Forces to flee. They camped at the mouth of the Gila River before entering California.

Northern Arizona settlements

The next time Latter-day Saints entered the area was in 1858 and 1859, when Jacob Hamblin and his companions camped at Pipe Spring in the northwestern part of present-day Arizona. They did this while journeying to and from their missions among the Moqui (Hopi) Indians east of the Colorado River.

During the 1860s and 1870s, LDS parties explored portions of the area searching for possible settlement sites. Also during this period, isolated ranches and small Mormon settlements were established at Short Creek (now Colorado City), Pipe Spring, Beaver Dam and neighboring Littlefield, and Lee's Ferry, all in the area between the Utah border and the Grand Canyon known as the Arizona Strip.

The first effort at large-scale LDS colonization came in March 1873 when a group of Latter-day Saints was sent from Utah to the Little Colorado River drainage under the direction of Horton D. Height. The colonizers turned back, discouraged by the poor prospects, but a few returned the following year and began farming among the Native Americans at Moencopi. Local hostilities forced the colonists to leave again after a month. A year later, James S. Brown led another small colonizing group that successfully settled at Moencopi, then began exploring the surrounding area. Following these explorations, a large group of settlers, led by Lot Smith, arrived in the spring of 1876 and established four settlements on the Little Colorado, which they called Ballenger's Camp (later renamed Brigham City), Sunset, Obed and Allen City (later renamed St. Joseph, and then Joseph City), along with a support settlement near Mormon Lake with a sawmill, dairy and tannery.[5][6]

Central and southern Arizona settlements

Thumb
The former Maricopa Stake Tabernacle (1896–1967), in Mesa

Daniel W. Jones was commissioned by Brigham Young to start a Mormon colony within the Salt River Valley of the Arizona Territory. The settlement party arrived at what would become Lehi, Arizona in March 1877. Jones' invitation to local Native Americans to live with them became a point of controversy, and half of the initial colony left, moving on to found St. David, Arizona.[7] In February 1878 the First Mesa Company arrived in Lehi. Rather than accepting an invitation to settle at Jones' settlement, they moved to the top of the mesa, and founded Mesa, Arizona. They dug irrigation canals, incorporating the original Hohokam canals in some places, and within a couple of months water was flowing through them.[8]

Pima was founded in 1879 by Mormon settlers relocating from Forrest Dale, after that location was declared to be on tribal land. Originally named Smithville, it was unlike other Mormon settlements of the era, not being planned by the leaders of the church.[9] Joseph K. Rogers was the first branch president at Pima, being appointed to this office before the settlers arrived. The branch was organized into a ward in 1880. In 1930 the total population of Pima was 980, 666 of whom were LDS, and a total of 1,260 people resided within the Pima ward boundaries.[10]

Remove ads

County Statistics

Thumb
A meetinghouse for the LDS Church in Queen Creek, Arizona.

List of LDS Church adherents in each county as of 2010 according to the Association of Religion Data Archives:[11] Note: Each county adherent count reflects meetinghouse location of congregation and not by location of residence. The census count reflects location of residence, which may skew percent of population where adherents reside in a different county as their congregational meetinghouse.

More information County, Congregations ...
Remove ads

Stakes

Summarize
Perspective

As of November 2024, the following stakes were located in Arizona:

More information Stake, Organized ...
  1. Stake located outside Arizona with congregation(s) meeting in Arizona
Remove ads

Missions

Thumb
Church logo in Navajo

On March 7, 1943, the Navajo-Zuni Mission was organized, and specialized with teaching Native Americans in their language. This was renamed the Southwest Indian Mission on January 1, 1949, and again the New Mexico-Arizona Mission on October 10, 1972. It was discontinued and transferred into the Arizona Phoenix Mission on July 1, 1984.

On August 1, 1969, the Arizona Mission was organized from the California South Mission, and was renamed the Arizona Tempe Mission on June 20, 1974.

As of February 2023, Arizona was now home to six missions.

More information Mission, Organized ...

Also, the Nevada Las Vegas Mission, the New Mexico Farmington Mission, and the Utah St George Mission covers portions of the state.

Remove ads

Temples

Summarize
Perspective
Thumb
Route marker on House Rock Valley Road for the Honeymoon Trail, which included part of this road
Temples in Arizona (edit)
  • = Operating
  • = Under construction
  • = Announced
  • = Temporarily Closed

On October 23, 1927, the Mesa Arizona Temple was dedicated. Until that time, members had traveled to the St. George Temple. Because of all the bridal parties that traversed the trail during the early years, the wagon road between St. George and the Arizona settlements became known as the Honeymoon Trail.[12][13] The Mesa Arizona Temple was the first temple in the Church to be rededicated (on April 15, 1975) after extensive remodeling and enlarging to accommodate increased attendance.

On March 3, 2002, a second Arizona temple was dedicated in Snowflake. Since then, a third, The Gila Valley Arizona Temple has been dedicated in Central, Arizona and three additional temples have been dedicated in Gilbert, Phoenix, and Tucson.

Thumb
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Dedicated:
Rededicated:
Size:
Style:
Notes:		 Mesa, Arizona, United States
October 3, 1919 by Heber J. Grant
April 25, 1922 by Heber J. Grant
October 23, 1927 by Heber J. Grant[14]
April 16, 1975 by Spencer W. Kimball
113,916 sq ft (10,583.1 m2) on a 20-acre (8.1 ha) site
Neoclassical Architecture - designed by Don Carlos Young, Jr. and Ramm Hansen
The first temple to offer ordinances in a language other than English (Spanish).
Thumb
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Dedicated:
Size:
Style:		 Snowflake, Arizona, U.S.
April 2, 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley
September 23, 2000 by Rex D. Pinegar
March 3, 2002 by Gordon B. Hinckley
18,621 sq ft (1,729.9 m2) on a 7.5-acre (3.0 ha) site
Classic modern, single-spire design - designed by Trest Polina
Thumb
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Dedicated:
Size:
Style:		 Central, Arizona, United States
April 26, 2008 by Thomas S. Monson[15]
February 14, 2009 by Neil L. Andersen[16]
May 23, 2010 by Thomas S. Monson
18,561 sq ft (1,724.4 m2) on a 17-acre (6.9 ha) site
{{{design}}} - designed by Gregory B. Lambright
Thumb
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Dedicated:
Size:
Style:
Notes:		 Gilbert, Arizona, U.S.
April 26, 2008 by Thomas S. Monson[17]
November 13, 2010 by Claudio R. M. Costa
March 2, 2014 by Henry B. Eyring & Thomas S. Monson[18]
85,326 sq ft (7,927.0 m2) on a 15.38-acre (6.22 ha) site
Neoclassical center spire
Announced by Thomas S. Monson on April 26, 2008, to be built on the southeast corner of Pecos and Greenfield Roads.[17][19][20] A public open house was held from January 18 to February 15, 2014.[21] The temple was formally dedicated on March 2, 2014.[22]
Thumb
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Dedicated:
Size:
Notes:		 Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
May 24, 2008 by Thomas S. Monson[23]
June 4, 2011 by Ronald A. Rasband
November 16, 2014 by Thomas S. Monson
64,870 sq ft (6,027 m2) on a 5.19-acre (2.10 ha) site
A public open house was held from October 10 to November 1, 2014.[24]
Thumb
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Dedicated:
Size:		 Catalina Foothills, Arizona, U.S.
October 6, 2012 by Thomas S. Monson[25][26][27]
October 17, 2015 by Dieter F. Uchtdorf[28]
August 13, 2017 by Dieter F. Uchtdorf[29]
38,216 sq ft (3,550.4 m2) on a 7-acre (2.8 ha) site
 edit
Location:
Announced:		 Yuma, Arizona, United States
7 April 2024 by Russell M. Nelson[30][31]
 edit
Location:
Announced:		 Queen Creek, Arizona, United States
6 October 2024 by Russell M. Nelson[32][33]
Remove ads

Communities

Latter-day Saints have had a significant role in establishing, settling, and/or populating communities within the "Mormon Corridor", including the following in Arizona:

Remove ads

Notable people

*Philemon C. Merrill
Remove ads

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads