Today in History: First Temple Outside of the U.S. Dedicated 91 Years Ago

91 years ago today, Heber J. Grant dedicated the Cardston, Alberta temple—the first temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be built outside of the United States. This temple quickly became known as the Church’s first “modern temple.”

In February of 1913, the decision had been made to build a temple in Cardston, and the temple site was dedicated later that year in July by President Joseph F. Smith. This temple was designed to be architecturally unique compared to other temples as it drew from many different cultural influences in its design. LDS.org quotes Joseph Young Card’s writing of about temple:

[pull_quote_center]Impressive and unique, it occupies a distinctive place of its own in the historic field of architecture. … It has the Grecian massiveness, a Peruvian touch, and is similar only to the ancient temples of the Aztecs. … Of the nine temples erected by the Latter Day Saints, there is no other of similar exterior design.[/pull_quote_center]

Construction on the temple began on November 5, 1913 after the ceremonial groundbreaking. It wasn’t until 1917 that construction work on the interior of the temple began. After ten years of construction, the Cardston, Alberta temple became the 6th operating temple in the world for the Church.

Since its original dedication date, the temple has received various additions and renovations which required another dedication.

The temple currently serves Saints in the Southern Alberta, parts of Northern Montana, and the B.C. Rockies.

For more information on the Cardston Temple, visit history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

Happy #TempleTuesday everyone!