United States: Church Chronology

1820–30 • New York and Pennsylvania, USAFollowing his First Vision and several subsequent revelations, Joseph Smith translated and published the Book of Mormon, received the priesthood, and, on April 6, 1830, organized the restored Church of Jesus Christ.

1831–37 • Ohio and Missouri, USAThe Church gathered in two centers: Kirtland, Ohio, and Jackson County, Missouri, where members attempted to build Zion—the ideal gospel community revealed to Joseph Smith. Temples were planned for both cities; however, frequent and occasionally violent clashes with their neighbors in Missouri and Ohio led to the Saints being expelled.

March 27, 1836 • Kirtland, OhioThe Kirtland Temple, the first temple in this dispensation, was dedicated.

1838–39 • MissouriAfter being driven from Kirtland, Ohio, and Jackson County, Missouri, the Saints settled in Caldwell, Ray, and Daviess Counties in Missouri. Disputes with neighbors, however, led to an armed conflict and the eventual expulsion of the Saints at the threat of death.

1839–46 • Nauvoo, Illinois, USAThe Latter-day Saints gathered in Illinois and established the city of Nauvoo, where Joseph Smith revealed the ordinances of the temple. Eventually, conflict with neighbors and disaffected former members of the Church led to the death of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.

May 1, 1846 • NauvooThe Nauvoo Temple was dedicated. Many Saints received their temple ordinances before departing for the West.

1847–69 • United StatesLatter-day Saints migrated from the eastern United States and Europe to settle in western North America. By the time the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, Latter-day Saints had established hundreds of communities in modern-day Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, California, Colorado, and Oregon.

February 14, 1870 • Salt Lake City, Utah TerritoryUtah women became the first women to legally cast ballots in an election in the United States. Two days prior, the territorial legislature had unanimously passed a resolution extending the right to vote to women. This right was rescinded in 1879 but was restored in 1896, when Utah was admitted as a state.

Salt Lake Temple

1877–93 • Utah Territory

Temples were built and dedicated in St. George, Manti, Logan, and Salt Lake City.

1877–90 • UtahPolygamy, which Joseph Smith had introduced as a revealed marriage practice as early as 1835, had been openly practiced since the arrival of the Latter-day Saints in Utah. After Brigham Young’s death, persecution increased in an attempt to make Latter-day Saints stop living the principle. John Taylor, who followed Brigham Young as President of the Church, continued to encourage the practice. In 1890, Church President Wilford Woodruff indicated that the Lord had shown him what would happen to the Church if polygamy were continued. He issued a manifesto that led to the end of the practice by members of the Church.

1875–1927 • Western United StatesBetween 1875 and 1910, the Church sponsored 33 academies for secondary education in seven western states, Canada, and Mexico. By 1927, the Church had closed or turned over to the states all but eight of the academies. Six remained as accredited normal schools or two-year colleges, one as a university, and one as a secondary school. By 1934, only two—Brigham Young University and Ricks College—continued under Church sponsorship. The other Church-run schools were eventually replaced with seminaries. The first Latter-day Saint seminary was established in 1912, adjacent to Granite High School in Salt Lake City. When this release-time seminary program proved to be effective, it was quickly adopted in other communities, with a high ratio of Church youth.

November 3, 1894 • Salt Lake CityThe Genealogical Society of Utah was established, which has become the largest genealogy organization in the world. It is dedicated to gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical information throughout the world.

1900 • United StatesAt the end of the 19th century, the Church had 283,765 members, 43 stakes, 20 missions, 967 units (wards and branches), and 4 operating temples. The following were the eight existing missions in the United States at this time: Southern States, Northern States, Southwestern States, Hawaiian, California, Eastern States, Colorado, and Northwestern States.

1917 • Salt Lake City, Utah, USAThe Church Administration Building was completed.

November 1918 • Salt Lake CityHeber J. Grant was set apart as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

November 27–30, 1919 • Lāʻie, HawaiiThe Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated. It was the first temple built outside of Utah after the Saints left Nauvoo.

January 21, 1923 • Los Angeles, California, USAThe first stake outside the Latter-day Saint cultural area was created in Los Angeles, California.

February 3, 1925 • Salt Lake CityChurch President Heber J. Grant dedicated a home for the training of missionaries.

July 15, 1929 • Salt Lake CityThe Tabernacle Choir began a weekly network radio broadcast on NBC, later known as Music & the Spoken Word, that has become the longest continuing network-radio broadcast in history.

April 1936 • Salt Lake CityThe welfare program of the Church was announced in general conference to help members who were suffering from the effects of the Great Depression.

November 1945 • Idaho, USAArnold Williams became the first Latter-day Saint governor of Idaho and the first Latter-day Saint governor of a state other than Utah.

1951 • United StatesChurch membership in the United States exceeded one million.

November 5, 1952 • Washington, D.C., USAEzra Taft Benson, who was an Apostle at the time, was sworn in as secretary of agriculture in the cabinet of Dwight D. Eisenhower. He served until the end of Eisenhower’s presidency.

July 1, 1954 • Salt Lake CityThe Indian Placement Program was announced. This program placed Indigenous children in foster homes while they attended school. An estimated 50,000 Indigenous children went through the program.

July 21, 1960 • Salt Lake CityThe First Presidency issued a statement allowing young men to serve missions at age 19, dropping the age from 21, even though they had not met previously required educational and military qualifications.

April 22, 1964 • New York City, New YorkThe Church opened a pavilion, called the “Mormon Pavilion,” at the New York World’s Fair. The pavilion hosted approximately six million visitors. Nearly one million guest-register referrals were obtained and presented to the Missionary Department. More than five million Church tracts and pamphlets were distributed at the pavilion. Nearly one hundred thousand visitors to the pavilion bought copies of the Book of Mormon.

1968–72 • New YorkBelle Spafford, Relief Society General President, was chosen and served as president of the National Council of Women.

January 1, 1971 • Salt Lake CityChurch magazines consolidated, leaving only the Ensign, New Era, and Friend.

September 6, 1974 • Salt Lake CityThe Church announced that it would divest itself of its 15 hospitals in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. The First Presidency said that “the growing worldwide responsibility of the Church makes it difficult to justify provision of curative services in a single, affluent, geographical locality.”

November 19–22, 1974 • Washington, D.C.The temple was dedicated in Washington, D.C. This was the first temple east of the Mississippi River since the Latter-day Saints left Nauvoo.

July 24, 1975 • Salt Lake CityThe Church Office Building was dedicated. At 28 stories, it was the tallest building in the state of Utah.

August 7, 1977 • Fargo, North Dakota, USAWith the organization of the Fargo North Dakota Stake, the 667th stake in the United States, the Church had stakes in every US state.

June 9, 1978 • Salt Lake CityChurch President Spencer W. Kimball announced the revelation that ended the priesthood and temple restrictions for Black members of the Church (Official Declaration 2), opening the door for missionary work among people of African ancestry.

1980–89 • United StatesTemples were dedicated in Washington, Utah, Idaho, Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, and Nevada.

1990–99 • United StatesTemples were dedicated in California, Florida, Utah, Missouri, Alaska, Washington, Ohio, North Dakota, South Carolina, Michigan, Montana, and North Carolina.

February 25, 1996 • United StatesThe Church crossed a 20th-century historic membership mark when, according to estimates by Church statisticians, on February 25, 1996, there were more Church members living outside the United States than living in the United States.

1999 • United StatesChurch membership in the United States exceeded five million.

2000–09 • United StatesTemples were dedicated in Minnesota, Hawaii, New Mexico, Arizona, Kentucky, New York, California, Oregon, Tennessee, Nevada, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Washington, Illinois, New York, Idaho, and Utah.

The Tabernacle Choir at the Olympics

February 8, 2002 • Salt Lake City

The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City, putting the Church and its members in the international media spotlight. The Tabernacle Choir sang at the opening ceremonies to a worldwide audience of 3.5 billion people.

2010–19 • United StatesTemples were dedicated in Arizona, Missouri, Utah, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wyoming, Connecticut, and Idaho.

January–June 2020 • United StatesAs the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the United States, shortages of masks and other personal protective equipment threatened to place frontline health care workers at increased risk. Using material provided by Latter-day Saint Charities, volunteers sewed more than five million masks to donate to medical professionals.