Building a Home for the Church

American servicemen stationed in Puerto Rico began meeting in small groups across the island in the 1940s. More American Latter-day Saint families moved to Puerto Rico during the 1950s, and in 1955 the San Juan Branch and the Ramey Branch, near Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla, were organized. Many of the men were returned missionaries from missions in Latin America and spoke Spanish. “It was not just a coincidence that they were there,” Daisy Jiménez, a Puerto Rican convert, said of those early members on the island. “Those people loved the people, showed their love to the people.”

Membership began to increase. The first Puerto Ricans baptized in Puerto Rico, María Cristina Burk and Irma Haws, were wives of American servicemen. They were baptized in October 1956. Full-time missionaries were assigned to the island in January 1964. Ilka Frau, Becky Fraticelli, and Eddie Carasquillo were among the first Puerto Rican converts to join the Church through the missionaries.

In 1964, the San Juan Branch was meeting in chapels on American military bases. This limited the branch to conducting sacrament services in English and to meeting at irregular times, when the chapel was not being used by other groups. They knew having their own meetinghouse would solve those problems.

A building fundraising committee was organized on March 29, 1964. The first fundraising activity was a swimming party at Puntas Salinas Beach on May 16, 1964. Two months later, the San Juan Branch made the local news with their Pioneer Day parade and rodeo, which raised $2,500. The Relief Society sold box lunches between sessions of district conference and sold homemade goods at bazaars. The Mutual Improvement Association hosted a fashion show in May 1965. A “Top Teen Band Competition” held at Hiram Bithorn Stadium on May 13, 1967, raised $3,500.

rodeo planning committee seated around table

The planning committee for the Pioneer Day rodeo fundraising event, 1964.

A site in Bayamón was chosen, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 7, 1968. Members contributed their time and labor to the construction, assisting with painting, landscaping, and other tasks. The chapel was completed in November 1969. When it was dedicated on March 8, 1970, it became the first Church meetinghouse in the Caribbean.

The building had caught the attention of the members’ neighbors. “When we built the chapel in Bayamón, there was a big surge of membership of Puerto Ricans,” recalled Ural Morris Burk, María Burk’s husband.

At the time of the dedication, there were around 450 members of the Church living in Puerto Rico. Of the 275 members of the San Juan Branch, around half were native Puerto Ricans. A little over a month after the chapel was dedicated, the San Juan Spanish Branch was organized. In 1971 three more Spanish branches were organized in Mayagüez, Caguas, and Arecibo.

Jardines de Caparra meetinghouse

The completed Jardines de Caparra meetinghouse, ca. 1970.