Fresno, California History On July 29, 1846, one year before Brigham Young arrived in Utah, a group of some 230 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints landed at Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) aboard the ship Brooklyn. They made many contributions to the growing city in the ensuing months and years. In January 1847 a US Army unit of Church members known as the Mormon Battalion arrived in San Diego, where most were discharged. The battalion helped in the construction of a number of buildings and public works in San Diego. Six of the discharged members of the battalion were working at Sutter's Mill when gold was discovered on January 24, 1848. The diary of Mormon Battalion veteran Henry W. Bigler is used by historians in determining the actual date for the discovery of gold in California. In 1892 John L. Dalton began missionary work in San Francisco, and a number of congregations in the Bay Area and Sacramento were organized. A congregation in Los Angeles was organized in 1895. Most missionary work before the turn of the century in California took place in the larger population centers around San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, individual Church members settled in many other parts of the state, such as the family of Arvin and Ina Hamlin, Church members who came to Fresno in 1907. Clarence Fancher joined the Church in 1902 and settled in Wyoming. In 1912 an opportunity came to join his father on a farm in Merced. While Church membership in Merced did not grow in the next few years, membership in Fresno increased to the point that the Church decided to organize a congregation in 1920. The boundaries of this single congregation extended 90 miles north of Fresno, 60 miles south, and to the mountain ranges on the east and west. The congregation in Fresno continued to grow throughout the 1930s and 1940s. By January 1945 there were 620 members, and the congregation was divided. A stake (multiple congregations) was organized in Fresno in 1951. The Church has long been involved in providing for the needs of its less fortunate members. For many years, a project of the Fresno area has been to provide raisins for the Church welfare system. By 1980 Church membership in California totaled 541,000. Current Church membership is over 740,000 in 160 stakes with 1,311 congregations. The Church has three temples in California: Los Angeles (1956), Oakland (1964), and San Diego (1993). On January 8, 1999, Church leaders announced plans to build a temple in Fresno.