The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York (LDS Church) has a rich history and in 2019 reported 82,731 members in 17 stakes, three missions and two temples in New York State.[1]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Visitors Center at Hill Cumorah

History

The early history of the LDS Church is deeply rooted in the state of New York with pivotal moments taking place in upstate New York and New York City. Joseph Smith claimed that while praying in a wooded area near his home in Palmyra in 1820, God and Jesus Christ, in a vision, appeared to him and set in motion the eventual establishment of a new religion.[2]

Smith said he received golden plates from the angel Moroni at the Hill Cumorah.

According to his later accounts, Smith was visited by an angel named Moroni, while praying one night in 1823. Smith said that this angel revealed the location of a buried book made of golden plates that would be translated into the Book of Mormon.[3]

The completed work was published in Palmyra on March 26, 1830, by printer E. B. Grandin. Soon after, on April 6, 1830, Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ, and small branches were established in Palmyra, Fayette, and Colesville, New York.[4] The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety and opposition from those who remembered the 1826 Chenango County trial.[5]

In July 1840, the first group of new converts from Liverpool, England, arrived on the Britannia ship in the New York harbor.[1]

On April 6, 2000, 170 years after the Church was organized, the Palmyra New York Temple was dedicated. The temple overlooks the Sacred Grove and other historic sites. The first temple in New York City, the Manhattan New York Temple, was dedicated on 13 June 2004.[1]

In 2020, the LDS Church canceled services and other public gatherings indefinitely in response to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.[6]

New York membership history
Year Membership
1900975
197417,000
198026,000
199040,000
199960,516
200875,852
201078,031

Missions
Mission Organized
New York New York City Mission* 6 May 1839
New York Syracuse Mission* 26 Jan 1964
  • New York New York Mission, originally known as the Eastern States, was organized on May 6, 1839. It was discontinued in 1850, 1858 and 1869, then reopened in 1854, 1865 and 1893 respectively. On June 20, 1974, it ras renamed the New York New York Mission, and then renamed New York New York South Mission on July 1, 1993, when the New York New York North Mission Was Created.
  • The Cumorah Mission was renamed the New York Rochester Mission on June 20, 1974.

Temples

New York currently has two temples.

 77. Palmyra New York Temple

Location:
Announced:
Dedicated:
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Style:

Palmyra and Manchester, New York, United States
February 21, 1999
April 6, 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley
10,700 sq ft (990 m2) and 71 ft (22 m) high on a 5 acre (2 ha) site
Classic modern, single spire - designed by Dave A. Richards
Church A&E Services

 119. Manhattan New York Temple

Location:
Announced:
Dedicated:
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New York City, United States
August 7, 2002
13 June 2004 by Gordon B. Hinckley
20,630 sq ft (1,917 m2) on a 0.3 acre (0.1 ha) site

Temples in New York
Red = Operating
Blue = Under Construction
Yellow = announced
Black = Closed for Renovations
Green = Construction suspended

Harrison New York
Main article: Harrison New York Temple

The Harrison New York Temple, previously known as the White Plains New York Temple, was a planned temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) that was to be constructed in Harrison, New York. Construction of the temple was to take place on a 24-acre site purchased by the LDS Church at the intersection of Interstate 287 and Hutchinon River Parkway. Reportedly, efforts had been underway until 2004, but construction was never started and eventually suspended. After delays by lawsuits and objections by local officials,[7] this temple was removed from the list on the LDS Church's official temple website soon after the dedication of the Manhattan New York Temple.

   Harrison New York (Efforts suspended)

Location:
Announced:
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Harrison, New York, United States of America
September 30, 1995
28,400 sq ft (2,640 m2)
Originally named the White Plains New York Temple the temple was renamed to the Harrison New York Temple. Along with the Boston Massachusetts Temple, it was to be built instead of the Hartford Connecticut Temple announced in October 1992.[8] Reportedly, efforts were still underway in 2004, though delayed by lawsuits and objections by local officials. According to a Deseret News article about the Manhattan Temple. However, this temple was removed from the list on the Church's official temple website soon after the dedication of the Manhattan New York Temple.

References
  1. "New York" Facts and Statistics", Newsroom: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2020. Retrieved on 21 March 2020.
  2. Remini (2002, pp. 37–38); Bushman (2005, p. 39) (When Smith first described the vision twelve years after the event, "[h]e explained the vision as he must have first understood it, as a personal conversion"); Vogel (2004, p. 30) (the vision confirmed to Smith what he and his father already suspected: that the world was spiritually dead).
  3. Quinn (1998, pp. 136–38); Bushman (2005, p. 43).
  4. Phelps (1833, p. 55) (noting that by July 1830, the church was "in Colesville, Fayette, and Manchester").
  5. Bushman (2005, p. 117)(noting that area residents connected the discovery of the Book of Mormon with Smith's past career as a money digger); Brodie (1971, pp. 80–82,87) (discussing organized boycott of Book of Mormon by Palmyra residents, and opposition by Colesville and Bainbridge residents who remembered the 1826 trial).
  6. Lovett, Ian. "Mormon Church Cancels Services World-Wide Amid Coronavirus Crisis", The Wall Street Journal, 12 March 2020. Retrieved on 31 March 2020.
  7. According to a Deseret News Article about the Manhattan Temple."N.Y. Temple to Get Spire". 10 June 2004. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  8. "Report of the 162nd Semiannual General Conference". churchofjesuschrist.org. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. November 1992. Retrieved July 25, 2007.

Further reading
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