The Cardston Alberta Temple (formerly the Alberta Temple) is the eighth constructed and sixth operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in Cardston, Alberta, it is the oldest LDS temple outside the United States. It is one of eight temples that do not have an angel Moroni statue, and one of three without spires, similar to Solomon's Temple. The other two are the Laie Hawaii Temple and the Mesa Arizona Temple. It is also one of only two Mormon temples built in the shape of a cross, the other being the Laie Hawaii Temple.
The temple was announced on June 27, 1913, and was built on Temple Hill, an eight-acre plot given to the church by Charles Ora Card. The site expanded to more than 10 acres (4.0 ha) in the mid-1950s. The granite used in building the temple was hand-hewn from quarries in Nelson, British Columbia.
Originally dedicated on August 26, 1923, by church president Heber J. Grant, an addition was rededicated on July 2, 1962 by Hugh B. Brown. The temple was renovated in the 1990s, and Gordon B. Hinckley rededicated it on June 22, 1991.
The temple has four ordinance rooms, five sealing rooms, and a floor area of 88,562 square feet (8,227.7 m2).
The first president of the temple was Edward J. Wood, who served from 1923 to 1948.
In 1992, the temple was declared a National Historic Site, and a plaque was dedicated in 1995.
Famous quotes containing the word temple:
“The same indignation that is said to have cleared the temple once will clear it again. The question is not about the weapon, but the spirit in which you use it. No man has appeared in America, as yet, who loved his fellow-man so well, and treated him so tenderly. He lived for him. He took up his life and he laid it down for him.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)