*Membership was published as a rounded number. Source: Windall J. Ashton; Jim M. Wall, Deseret News, various years, Church Almanac Country Information: Arizona[1]
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
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]
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.
^ abcStake located outside Arizona with congregation(s) meeting in Arizona
Missions
Church logo in Navajo
On March 7, 1943, the Navajo-ZuniMission 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.
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.
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
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
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[22] 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][18][19] A public open house was held from January 18 to February 15, 2014.[20] The temple was formally dedicated on March 2, 2014.[21]
Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. May 24, 2008 by Thomas S. Monson[24] 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.[23]
Latter-day Saints have had a significant role in establishing, settling, and/or populating communities within the "Mormon Corridor", including the following in Arizona:
^Turner, D. L.; Ellis, Catherine H. (2009), Latter-Day Saints in Mesa, Images of America, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, pp. 9, 126, ISBN9780738558578
Abruzzi, William S. (1993), Dam that river!: ecology and Mormon settlement in the Little Colorado River Basin, Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, ISBN0819191264, OCLC27814216
Garrett, H. Dean; Clark V. Johnson (1989). Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Arizona. Provo, Utah: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University. ISBN0-8425-2370-7. OCLC22014464.
Herman, Daniel J. (2010), Hell on the Range: A Story of Honor, Conscience, and the American West, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, ISBN9780300137361, OCLC601348221
Peterson, Charles Sharon (1967). Settlement on the Little Colorado, 1873–1900: a study of the processes and institutions of Mormon expansion (Ph. D. thesis). Dept. of History, University of Utah. OCLC3681211.
Smith, Sophronia (1937). A historical survey of the northeastern section of Arizona, its settlement and development into Latter-Day Saint Stakes, 1876–1937 (M.S. thesis). Brigham Young University. OCLC18939235.
Ward, Margery W.; Dye, Della L.; Conrad, Kathryn (1974), Register of the records of Mormon settlements in Arizona, Salt Lake City: Special Collections Dept., University of Utah, OCLC2569009
Williams, Oran Adna (1957). Settlement and growth of the Gila Valley in Graham county as a Mormon colony, 1879–1900 (M.A. thesis). Dept. of History, University of Arizona. OCLC28230204.
Young, Valerie P. (2005). The "Honeymoon Trail": link to community and a sense of place in the Little Colorado River settlements of Arizona, 1877–1927 (M.S. thesis). Utah State University. OCLC60858535.
Webb, Rhonda; Goodman, Arleen (2003), Mormon pioneers of the San Pedro Valley: Saint David, Arizona, St. David, AZ: St. David Heritage and Cultural Arts Society, OCLC54848798
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