Dallas Texas Temple
The Dallas Texas Temple is the 30th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When the Mormon missionaries were sent to Texas in the 1850's, conversion was slow, and when the Civil War began in 1860, it put an end to the missionary work for a time. However, 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 Mormons that played key roles in the growth of the Church in Texas and in 1906 the Mormons had a population of about four hundred. 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 Mormon Church 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 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 Mormon Church were strengthened in their beliefs as they renewed their convictions of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
On October 19, 1984, Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Dallas Texas Temple. The temple sits on a site of 6 acres and was originally 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 22,749 square feet of added space. [2] The Dallas Texas Temple now has a total of 46,956 square feet, five ordinance rooms, and five sealing rooms.
Notes
- "Dallas Temple Dedication" by Susan Cobb, p 70
- "Dallas Texas Temple", by Hobson, p 191
Other Temples in Texas
See also
External links
- Official LDS Dallas Texas Temple page
- Dallas Texas Temple page
- Dallas Texas Temple page
- Mormon Temple Worship - BBC Religion & Ethics
- Mormon Temple Ordinances - ReligionFacts
- Mormon Temples - Lightplanet
