Cardston Alberta Temple Wiki

Quick Facts

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Description

The Cardston Alberta Temple (formerly the Alberta Temple) is the eighth constructed and sixth of the still-operating temple. Located in Cardston, Alberta, it is the oldest Temple outside the United States. It is one of ten temples that do not have an angel Moroni statue, and one of four without spires.

History

Charles Ora Card founded the town of Cardston as a refuge mostly for Saints escaping federal prosecution in the United States during the late 19th century due to anti-polygamy laws. Church President John Taylor had asked him to look for areas to settle in Canada, and Card soon found an area in Southern Alberta in 1886 that would eventually house over a dozen Latter-day Saint settlements — including Cardston.

Three weeks after Card and the first 41 Latter-day Saint settlers arrived at what was then known as Lee Creek, local Sunday School Superintendent Jonathan E. Layne was speaking at a Sunday Church meeting when he felt to prophesy that “this country would produce for us all that our Cache Valley homes and lands had produced for us, and that temples would yet be built in this country. I could see it as plain as if it was already here.”

A year later, Elder John W. Taylor of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and son of President John Taylor visited the Saints in Cardston and validated Layne’s prophecy.

“I now speak by the power of prophecy and say that upon this very spot shall be erected a temple to the name of Israel’s God.”

Announcement

The construction of the temple was part of an effort led by President Smith to increase temple accessibility to those distant from the temples in Utah. Besides the Cardston temple, that effort eventually led to the construction of temples in Laie, Hawaii, and Mesa, Arizona.

Location Announced

27 July 1913, President Joseph F. Smith arrived in Cardston to confirm the location of the temple and dedicate the site.  ^[5]”The First Modern Temple – The History of the Cardston Alberta Temple,” LDS.org. Accessed 23 June 2017.”

Groundbreaking

Cornerstone

23 September 1917 – capstone was placed on the temple, worked turned to the interior. ^[8]”The First Modern Temple – The History of the Cardston Alberta Temple,” LDS.org. Accessed 23 June 2017.”

Dedication

Dedicatory Prayer

Dedication Order

The New Road

The site expanded to more than 10 acres (4.0 ha) in the mid-1930s. This was done by moving the road in front of the temple further west, and landscaping the original road into the grounds.

Renovation 1955-1962

Starting in 1955 an extensive renovation program was begun. The hill between the terrace wall and the temple proper, where walking gardens had been, was excavated. Roofs were put in and the south area was given over to a kitchen and cafeteria, with the area north going to laundry facilities. The rest of the area became administrative space and expanded dressing rooms.

The courtyard was covered and added to the temple. A new covered porch was added over the entryway.

These early renovations had a theme of renew and update attached. Original workmanship was frequently updated and painted over, including murals.

As part of the expansion, a new courtyard was added to the temple on the west end surrounding the entryway, and caped off at the street end by a new “Bureau of Information” (Visitor’s Center) and a Genealogy Library.

Rededication

Rededication Order

1964-1966 Renovation

A renovation was begun in 1964 that enclosed the entryway in glass, allowing for protection from the weather, and the installation of small lockers, likely for shoes, in the entrance area.

An extension was approved and added to the East end of the temple. The new extension has an assembly hall and lockers. The extension took the temple to 65,000 sq ft.

1988-1992 Renovation

In 1988 the temple closed for a long renovation. Upgrades were made to the mechanical and electrical systems. After the work necessitated uncovering the temple’s original murals, the focus shifted primarily to restoring the temple to its 1923 glory. The west end porch and reception area was removed and a new entryway was added. the expansion took the temple to 89,405 sq feet.

Open House

Second Rededication

“This is important, very important,” he admonished. “This work is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I urge you to use it, work it. This temple is beautiful and magnificent, but it isn’t a place to be looked upon, it’s a place to be used. It is the house of God, and He invites us to come here.”

President Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the First Presidency, said in one of the sessions that the temple rededication was an opportunity to “rededicate ourselves.”

“Let us examine our lives and make that improvement where improvement needs to be made. We are privileged once again to have this temple performing its beautiful and sacred function.”

Doctors expected George Burnett of Medicine Hat, Alberta, to die from his brain tumor a year before the rededication of the temple. But to everyone’s surprise, he lived long enough to attend the services 150 miles away, even while being paralyzed on the left side of his body.

“The Lord knows there’s something for me to do, and Pat [his wife] and I being sealed is one of those things,” Burnett reflected after the session.

Each of the Church’s temples, President Hinckley said, “is a monument to the eternity of life. Everything that occurs here is concerned with the eternity of the human soul.”

Dedicatory Prayer

Rededication Order

National Historic Site

In 1992, the temple was declared a National Historic Site, and a plaque was dedicated in 1995.^[10] “Canadian Register of Historic Places”, HistoricPlaces.ca, Parks Canada Agency

Firsts

This was the first temple in a push to bring the temples closer to the members. (The Laie Temple would be announced later, though it would be completed first.)

It was determined during the planning for the Cardston temple that an assembly hall was not necessary for a temple. Consequently Cardston temple was the first temple designed to not have an assembly hall (though the more rapidly completed Laie Temple would be the first constructed temple to not have one.) ^[11]”The First Modern Temple – The History of the Cardston Alberta Temple,” LDS.org. Accessed 23 June 2017.”

Unlike previous temples, where an architect was chosen by the Church to design the temple to general direction from the First Presidency, multiple Architects were invited to submit designs for the new temple Most of these designs held to the classical/Gothic themes of the 4 Utah temples. A design by Hyrum C. Pope and Harold W. Burton was the winning design and it was instead heavily influenced on the exterior by Frank Lloyd Wrights Unity Temple. Burton and Pope had their career launched by this success, and would also go on to design the Laie temple, to submit a design (unchosen) for the Mesa Temple, and to Design the Oakland California Temple.

Presidents and Matrons

Temple President	Temple Matron	Years Served
Forast Brent Thomas	Carolyn Rawsthorne Thomas	2022–
David Wesley Balderson	Elva Lorraine Smith Balderson	2018–2022
Clark Litchfield Hardy	Deanna Jean Fairbanks Hardy	2015–2018
Lloyd Mark Evans	Carolyn Anderson Evans	2012–2015
Brent L Nielson	Barbara Elaine Tollestrup Nielson	2009–2012
Donald Sverre Hansen	Judith Lundrigan Hansen	2006–2009
Lynn Albert Rosenvall	Elizabeth Ann (Beth) Rosenvall	2003–2006
Heber Blaine Kapp	Ardeth Greene Kapp	2000–2003
Joseph Erle Jack	Elaine Low Jack	1997–2000
Merlin Rex Lybbert	Nola Cahoon Lybbert	1994–1997
Heber Lamont Matkin	Rhea Pearl Card Matkin	1991–1994
Roy Ronald Spackman	Donna Palmer Spackman	1986–1991
Harold Enniss Bennett	Dora Shields Bennett	1982–1986
Vi Alfred Wood	Lorraine E. Markgraf Wood	1977–1982
Elmo Eugene Fletcher	LaRue Karren Fletcher	1972–1977
Heber Golden Jensen	Hattie Baker Jensen	1968–1972
Octave Willis Ursenbach	Jessie Redd Ursenbach	1956–1968
Willard Lisbon Smith	Jennie Leavitt Smith	1948–1955
Edward James Wood	Jennie Leavitt Smith Armenia Willey Lee Coombs	1923–1948

Details

Location

Exterior

Cladding

The temple is a steel and concrete structure. The exterior is clad in Granite hand-hewn from quarries in Nelson, British Columbia.

Windows

The windows in the temple are leaded art glass created by the Detroit Stained Glass Co

Spires and Finial

Spire

Symbolism

Inscriptions

Cornerstone

South East corner of the temple, facing east, on the bottom of the upper level of the temple. This portion of the temple was originally a garden area, and the cornerstone could easily be accessed. Excavation  of the terrace to expand the temple put the cornerstone on the upper section of the temple, out of reach of the public.

Interior

Baptistry

Initiatory Spaces

Instruction Rooms

Sealing Rooms

Contractors

Region

TEMPLES IN NORTH AMERICA (EXCEPT US & MEXICO) _{by country}

Canada	11	Calgary · Cardston · Edmonton · Halifax · Lethbridge · Montreal · Regina · Toronto · Vancouver · Victoria · Winnipeg
Costa Rica	1	San José
Dominican Republic	1	Santiago · Santo Domingo
El Salvador	1	San Salvador · Santa Ana
Guatemala	6	Cobán · Guatemala City · Huehuetenango · Miraflores Guatemala City · Quetzaltenango · Retalhuleu
Haiti	1	Port-au-Prince ·
Honduras	2	Tegucigalpa · San Pedro Sula
Mexico	26
Nicaragua	1	Managua
Panama	1	Panama City
Puerto Rico	1	San Juan
United States	143

Sources and Links

Additional Articles

• Paul L. Anderson, “First of the Modern Temples”, Ensign, July 1977
• Susa Young Gates, “Dedication of the Alberta Temple”, Improvement Era, 26 (12): 1139–1141, October 1923
• Paul L. Anderson, “Paintings from the Alberta Temple”, Ensign, July 1978.
• Hugh B. Brown, “The LDS Concept of Marriage”, Improvement Era, 65 (08): 570–575, August 1962. (Has accompanying color photographs of interior of Cardston Alberta Temple)
• C. Frank Steele, “Trek to the North”, Improvement Era, 65 (08): 568–569, 590–591, August 1962.