Cardston Alberta Temple

1923 Dedication of the Cardston Alberta Temple

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.”

On Oct. 4, 1912 — 24 years after Elder Taylor’s prophecy — Church President Joseph F. Smith announced that a temple would be built in Canada. Saints in both Raymond and Cardston submitted proposals for temple sites after the announcement. As the location for the first temple outside the continental United States, the First Presidency chose the exact spot in Cardston Elder Taylor said a temple would be built.

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.

Church President Heber J. Grant dedicated the Cardston Alberta Temple in 11 sessions from Aug. 26-29, 1923.

C. Frank Steele, a Canadian Church leader and writer, later said that the temple came with “a re-orientation of [the Alberta Saints’] whole thought, purpose and outlook.” The temple, he added, represented “a crowning reward for their faithfulness, a symbol of permanency in their new Canadian home.”

Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “We beseech Thee, O God in Heaven, that the people of Canada may ever seek Thee for guidance and direction, that Thy declaration that the American continent is a land choice above all other lands, and Thy promise that it shall be protected against all foes, provided the people serve Thee, may be fulfilled, and that the people may grow in power, and strength and dominion, and, above all, in a love of Thy truth.”

Read the 1923 dedicatory prayer of the Cardston Alberta Temple here.

1962 Rededication of the Cardston Alberta Temple

The temple underwent extensive renovations to accommodate an increase in temple attendance. President Hugh B. Brown, second counselor in the First Presidency, then rededicated the Cardston temple in four sessions on July 2, 1962, the year of the 75th anniversary of the founding of Cardston.

In one of the sessions, Sister Jessie R. Ursenbach, the temple matron, spoke of the love of God. “If we reach as high as we can,” Sister Ursenbach said, “He will reach down the rest of the way.”

President Brown’s wife, Sister Zina Young Card Brown, was one of the first three children born in Cardston and the daughter of founder Charles Ora Card and his wife, Zina Young Card. She said returning to Cardston brought back memories of the past and the gratitude they owed to the pioneers. She felt the spirits of many were present on the occasion.

In his remarks before reciting the dedicatory prayer, President Brown recalled the dedication of the temple by President Heber J. Grant and the spirit of prophecy felt that day.

President Brown bore witness of Jesus Christ as a member of the Godhead in whom all fullness dwells, and testified of His divine calling and His position as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He quoted Church President David O. McKay, who said: “I am not the head of this Church; Christ is the head of this Church.”

He added his testimony that the Church is divinely led through prophets of God who warn of dangerous times ahead, times that necessitate calling upon God for guidance.

The love of God that Sister Ursenbach spoke about would be felt years later by Fritzi Crowfoot of the Siksika Nation in Alberta, Canada, who joined the Church of Jesus Christ in 1966. While living with a member family in Vermilion, Alberta, as part of a First Nations placement program, Crowfoot met her husband, Wally Woods, at a youth conference. They would go on to be sealed in the Cardston temple in July 1971. The temple president, Heber G. Jensen, mentioned to the two that they were the first indigenous couple he had sealed in the Cardston temple.

As she entered the house of the Lord, Crowfoot, with the backdrop of a fountain and a grass-colored carpet, imagined her native ancestors heading up the stairway to have their temple work done. She noted that in her visit, “everyone at the temple seemed full of love and acceptance.” Crowfoot added that the temple was built in the heart of former Blackfoot territory, the home of her ancestors.

“I will always remember the peace I felt while attending this temple and feeling like it was my ancestors’ temple.”

Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “And on this great Dominion Day we raise our voices in praise to Thee that we are permitted to have in this free land a house like this and others that will be built where we may perform sacred ordinances for both the living and the dead. Now, Heavenly Father, wilt Thou accept of this offering and let Thy Holy Spirit be with all of us as we leave here tonight.”

Read the 1962 rededication prayer of the Cardston Alberta Temple here.

1991 Rededication of the Cardston Alberta Temple

President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency, smiled as he told the Saints of Cardston, Alberta, that the Lord had “baptized” the entire area with their recent storms. “I’ve been to Cardston a number of times but have never seen it as washed and polished as it is now. I’m grateful that President [Joseph F.] Smith had the inspiration to build the temple here.”

President Hinckley’s remarks came as he presided over the rededication of the Cardston Alberta Temple on June 22-24, 1991, in 12 sessions — including some on his 81st birthday.

In the century leading to the Cardston temple’s second rededication, multiple general Church leaders sprang from this small, isolated community, including emeritus general authority Elder Victor L. Brown, Relief Society General President Elaine L. Jack and Young Women General President Ardeth G. Kapp. These three leaders would join President Hinckley as he rededicated the temple.

Elder Brown, speaking in the fourth session, recounted his first trip to the temple at age 9, when he was sealed to his parents. He was ill, and so dizzy that he couldn’t sit up. His mother suggested they reschedule the sealing, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

“I still remember the warm feeling I had when President [Edward J.] Wood sealed us and we became an eternal family,” remembered Elder Brown. “The Alberta temple has much to do with my beginnings. This is the first time I have really come home and been in Cardston with all of my children. I’ve never been so emotionally involved as I have been today. This is one of the choicest experiences of my life.”

During one of the sessions, President Hinckley encouraged members to attend the temple often to make up for the time lost due to the renovation.

“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 excerpt: “Acting in the authority of the everlasting priesthood and in the name of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, we now rededicate this, the Alberta Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to thee, our Eternal Father, and to thy divine Son Jesus Christ. We rededicate it as the house of the Lord, as thy dwelling place, and for the consummation of thy holy purposes.”

Read the 1991 rededication prayer of the Cardston Alberta Temple here.

In October 1912 general conference, President Joseph F. Smith announced plans to construct a temple somewhere in Canada. On Feb. 13, 1913, Alberta Stake President Edward J. Wood received a letter from Elder Orson F. Whitney of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles announcing the house of the Lord will be built in Cardston. After a decade of construction, the Cardston temple was dedicated by President Heber J. Grant on Aug. 26, 1923.

During the 1950s, the Cardston temple underwent extensive renovations due to the notion of it needing to be refreshed. In 1962, Elder Hugh B. Brown, second counselor in the First Presidency, rededicated the temple. The temple was closed and underwent construction again from 1988 to 1991, before being rededicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley on June 22, 1991.

Architecture and Design of the Cardston Alberta Temple

Original Design

The original structure was built on an eight-acre site called the Tabernacle Block. The Cardston temple lacked an assembly hall and tall spires, deviating from how temples were normally built. The Cardston temple would become a turning point in the world of architecture Architects Hyrum Pope and Harold Burton used an original design to accompany its location, sitting upon a small hill and surrounded by prairie. The design is an octagonal shape with a “Grecian massiveness and a Peruvian touch,” resembling ancient Aztec temples.

Initially, the structure held 40 rooms and had a total floor area of 29,471 square feet. The interior consists of 80 rooms, including a baptistry, four ordinance rooms and five sealing rooms. The ordinance rooms are adorned with a variety of different hardwoods including oak, birdseye maple, American walnut, African mahogany, rosewood and ebony.

The pyramidal, geometric features of the temple form a central Greek cross containing the celestial room and baptismal font at its center. Ordinance rooms surround the center and are spread across the four points of the compass. Each room is a half-story higher than the previous as it ascends towards the center, symbolizing progression towards the celestial room.

Renovations

During the 1950s, the temple was enlarged and renovated due to an impression of it needing to be refreshed. The modifications included excavating and roofing the base of the temple to build more offices and removing the upper garden to replace it with a reception area made of glass and steel. Original color schemes were removed and much of the interior features were replaced. Eventually, the west side of the temple would became the front side and main entrance to the temple.

In 1964, a 3,500 square-foot structure, including an assembly room, library and baptismal facilities, was approved to be added to the temple. The expansion was completed two years later.

Over two decades later, the temple was closed and renovated for three years from 1988 to 1991. Construction efforts aimed to revert the temple back to its original 1923 design.

The house of the Lord is now 81,700 square feet, measuring 85 feet high and 118 feet wide.