When members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left
Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846, it was not certain where the community of over
10,000 Church members would relocate. A number of sites were considered,
including several along the Pacific Coast. While many speculated that
Oregon would be the final destination, the leadership of the Church under
Brigham Young determined in 1847 that the Church would be established
in the Salt Lake Valley.
Only a few years later, in 1850, the Church called Boyd Stewart, who
was living in California's gold fields, as its first missionary to Oregon.
In 1887 Church members David Eccles and Charles W. Nibley acquired a
saw mill on the North Powder River, the first of a series of lumber mills
they would operate in Oregon. A number of Church members came to Oregon
to work in the mills, and the Baker Branch was organized in 1893.
In 1897 a mission of the Church was organized in the Northwestern states,
to include Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Montana was added to this mission
in 1898, and mission headquarters were established at Baker City, Oregon.
At the turn of the century a number of Church members settled in Union
County, Oregon, to raise sugar beets. These settlements proved so successful
that the Union Stake was organized in 1901 (a "stake" is a group
of congregations similar to a diocese).
Missionary work in southern Oregon began by at least 1910 when two elders
of the Church were reported working in Medford. In February of 1911, Mission
President Melvin J. Ballard visited the Ashland and Rogue River Valley,
decided that the potential for missionary success was good, and sent additional
missionaries to the area. Melvin J. Ballard returned to southern Oregon
in the 1920s as a member of the Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
and was still impressed with southern Oregon's potential for Church growth.
At that time he felt impressed to tell members of the Church that a temple
would be built in the Rogue River Valley some day.
There were 3,226 Church members in all of Oregon in 1930, but only 129
members of them lived in the southern part of the state.
Church membership increased during the 1930s and 1940s. A second stake
in Oregon was created in Portland in 1938.
By 1980 there were 94,000 Church members in Oregon, and by 1990 there
were 113,000. There are currently over 134,000 members of the Church in
Oregon in 274 congregations.
A temple was dedicated in Portland in 1989. On March 17, 1999, Church
officials announced plans to build a temple in Medford, Oregon.
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