In the years following the migration of the Latter-day
Saints (Mormons) to Utah in the mid-nineteenth century, President
Brigham Young called families to colonize other parts of the
west, including the Arizona territory. Arizona members had to
travel to Utah to attend the Salt Lake City Temple for their
sacred ordinances. Church leaders recognized the members' need
for a temple closer to home and selected a site in the Mormon
settlement of Mesa.
In 1920 Mormon Church President Heber J. Grant invited the
leading architectural firms of Salt Lake City to submit designs.
Don Carlos Young, Jr. and Ramm Hansen were the winning
architects. Brothers Young and Hansen designed a modern
structure which reflected the desert horizon.
The same care in selecting the architects was shown in
choosing the artists to plan the interior of the temple. Mormon
artists Torlief Knaphus, A.B. Wright, LeConte Stewart, J. Leo
Fairbanks, and Fritzoff Weber contributed to the design of the
furniture and decorations. With the exception of Fritzoff Weber,
a Norwegian artist, all of these artists had also worked on the
Alberta, Canada or Hawaii temples.
Lee Green Richards painted a mural of Joseph Smith preaching
to Native Americans, since many Native American members of the
Church would attend the Arizona Temple. Navajo sisters wove a
rug for the foyer in grays, reds, and natural black and white
wools. They used the trunks of living trees for loom supports.
Indian artifacts were incorporated in the garden landscaping.
President Grant dedicated the Arizona Temple on October 23,
1927.
