page_title: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada
section_title: Colonization of Alberta
hierarchical_section_title: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada / Colonization of Alberta
caption_attribution_description: English: Category:Images of Alberta Français&#160;: Le Michelsen Farmstead à Stirling en Alberta
context_page_description: Since its organization in New York in 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a presence in Canada. The first Latter Day Saint missionaries to preach outside of the United States preached in Upper Canada; the first stake to be established outside of the U.S. was the Alberta Stake; and the Cardston Alberta Temple was the first church temple to be built outside of the current boundaries of the United States.
context_section_description: In 1887, John Taylor—who by then had become the president of the church—sent Charles Ora Card, the president of the church's Cache Stake, to Canada's Northwest Territories to establish a Mormon colony that was beyond the reach of the United States government's anti-polygamy prosecutions. Card led a group of followers and established a settlement along Lee's Creek; the settlement was eventually renamed Cardston in Card's honour. The Alberta Stake of the church was created in 1895 with Card as its president; it was the first stake of the church established outside of the United States.
  Mormon pioneers continued to colonize what would become Alberta in 1905. Before the turn of the century, Latter-day Saints had founded Mountain View, Aetna, Beazer, Leavitt, Kimball, Caldwell, Taylorville, Magrath, and Stirling. After 1900, Mormon colonies were established in Woolford, Welling, Orton, Raymond, Barnwell, Taber, Frankburg, Glenwood, and Hill Spring. Church apostle John W. Taylor—the son of church president John Taylor—played a leadership role in assisting Latter-day Saint emigration from Utah to Alberta.
  The Alberta Stake was divided in two in 1903: the Alberta Stake remained headquartered in Cardston and the new Taylor Stake—named in honour of John W. Taylor—was headquartered in Raymond. By 1910, there were about 10,000 Latter-day Saints in southern Alberta and in 1913 the church began construction of a temple in Cardston. In 1924, Heber J. Grant dedicated the Alberta Temple as the first church temple outside of the United States. A stake was organized in Lethbridge in 1921.
  Stirling, one of Alberta's original Mormon settlements and a National Historic Site of Canada, was founded by Theodore Brandley in 1899, and is one of few towns in Canada plotted out by the Plat of Zion. Today, Stirling still follows the Plat of Zion; for this reason, the village is recognized as the most well-preserved Canadian example of the Latter-day Saint planning model.
caption: Michelsen Farmstead one of the original Mormon farmsteads in Stirling Agricultural Village
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