List of Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - History

History

In 1832, shortly after the formation of the Church, Joseph Smith, Jr. said that the Lord desired the saints build a temple; and they completed the Kirtland Temple in 1836. Initially, the Church constructed temples in areas where there were large concentrations of members: Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Hawai'i (all in the USA), and Alberta (Canada). In the mid 20th century, because of the importance of temples in the theology, the Church tried to balance density with the travel requirements attending the temple imposed upon members. Thus, temples were built in Europe (namely, Switzerland dedicated in 1955 and England dedicated in 1958); the Pacific Islands (namely, New Zealand dedicated in 1958); and Washington, D.C. (dedicated in 1974, the first American temple East of Utah since Nauvoo in 1846). All dedicated at a time when membership in the region alone might not have justified the effort.

In the 1980s, Spencer W. Kimball directed the Church to build smaller temples with similar designs allowing temples to be built where there were fewer members. As a result the first temples in South America (Brazil dedicated in 1978); Asia (Japan dedicated in 1980); and Central America (Mexico City dedicated in 1983) were built and the number of temples doubled from 15 to 36.

Church president and prophet Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) also accelerated the construction of temples through the use of an even smaller standardized base design. In 1998 when there were only 51 temples, Hinckley set a goal to have 100 temples before 2001. Between the brief building period from 1998 to 2001, 38 of these standardized temples were constructed and dedicated, meeting Hinckley's goal by having 102 dedicated temples before 2001. During Hinckley's service as president, the number of temples more than doubled from 47 to 124.