Trifter

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.