Dallas Texas Temple
The Dallas Texas Temple is the 30th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When the Latter-day Saint missionaries were sent to Texas in the 1850s, conversion was slow, and when the Civil War began in 1860, it put an end to the missionary work for a time. Missionaries were called back to Texas in 1875, but for several decades missionary work remained very difficult. Despite slow progress, there were several small colonies of Latter-day Saints that played key roles in the growth of the Church in Texas, and in 1906 there were about four hundred members of the Church of Jesus Christ. By 1930, the Church only had 3,837 members total in Texas. But, with God touching the lives of people and the heightened visibility of Latter-day Saints in the area, the Church of Jesus Christ grew. In the next fifty years the Church grew so rapidly across the country that President Spencer W. Kimball announced plans to build nine new temples. The Dallas Texas Temple was one of them and would then serve nearly 120,000 members in most of Texas, all of Oklahoma, and parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. [1]
The Church chose the temple site in a quiet residential neighborhood twelve miles north of downtown Dallas. With the announcement of the Dallas Temple, some groups voiced strong opposition to the Church and its teachings. Opposition was voiced in magazines, and there were television and radio programs devoted to warning the Christian community of the so-called "danger of Mormonism." But all efforts were ineffective and the members of the Church of Jesus Christ were strengthened in their beliefs, as they renewed their convictions of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The public was invited to tour the Dallas temple from 7 September 24 September 1984. A total of 88,428 visited the temple during this time, about 56 percent of whom were not Latter-day Saints.
On October 19, 1984, Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Dallas Texas Temple in 23 sessions. The temple sits on a site of 6 acres and was originally just under 18,000 square feet. With the Church growing rapidly, the temple was remodeled in 1987 to increase its size and make it more functional and efficient. The addition gave the temple approximately 22,000 square feet of added space. [2] The Dallas Texas Temple now has a total of more than 44,000 square feet, five ordinance rooms, and five sealing rooms. The baptistry was relocated and enlarged. President Hinckley dedicated the Dallas Texas Temple’s new rooms and facilities on March 5, 1989.
Contents
[hide]Notes
- "Dallas Temple Dedication Opens New Era for Southwestern Saints," by Susan Cobb
- Church News Almanac, "Dallas Texas Temple"
Temples in Texas
- Austin Texas Temple
- Dallas Texas Temple
- El Paso Texas Temple
- Fort Worth Texas Temple
- Houston Texas Temple
- Houston Texas South Temple
- Lubbock Texas Temple
- McAllen Texas Temple
- McKinney Texas Temple
- San Antonio Texas Temple
See also
- Inside Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ
- Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ
- The Temple Endowment
- Latter-day Saint Undergarments
- Latter-day Saint Weddings
