The
10,700-square-foot Medford Oregon Temple is located in Central Point, Oregon thirty-five
miles north of the California border, in the center of the beautiful Rogue Valley. A
creek runs past the property, which lies between farmland and a residential neighborhood.
The Central Point stake center was built on the 8.23-acre site twenty years ago, when it
was traded for a small piece of downtown property that would not be large enough to
accommodate a stake center. Because more land had been acquired in the trade than the
typical four to five acres needed for a stake center, there was discussion to sell the
extra acreage. But Bishop Rosecrans, the agent bishop and eventual patriarch of the stake,
felt strongly that the land should be kept. The extra land was used as a community garden
to grown corn.
Although the Northwestern States Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints was organized in 1897, there is no record of missionary work in southern Oregon
until 1914. In 1914, Aaron Oman and his missionary
companions walked up and down the Rogue River preaching the gospel and seeking converts.
On at least one occasion, they walked as far as Crater Lake in their pursuit.
In 1915, the Utah & Idaho Sugar Factory expanded into
southern Oregon. The company, which was headed by Church leader Charles Nibley, built a
sugar beet factory in Grants Pass and was run by Latter-day Saints. The Grants Pass Branch
was organized during this time. In 1917, the factory was moved to Washington and the
branch was disorganized. Meanwhile, small Latter-day Saint congregations began
forming in Medford and Klamath Falls.
In 1925, missionaries from the Northwestern States Mission
were sent to Medford to organize a Sunday School. At that time, there was much animosity
toward the Church in Oregon. The missionaries persevered, however, and taught many people.
The Medford Branch was organized in 1927, and the Southern
Oregon District was created in 1937. The district boundaries extended northwest to
Marshfield (now Coos Bay), northeast to Bend, west to Klamath Falls, and south into
Northern California.
In 1941, many Latter-day Saints moved to the area to help
build Camp White, a military training facility in Sam's Valley.
The Church in southern Oregon grew quickly in the 1940s,
and two additional districts were created one in 1942, and another in 1946.
The first building owned by the Church in southern Oregon
was a small white house in Medford purchased in 1942. In 1947, the Home & Martin
chapel in Klamath Falls was completed. This chapel was the first in the Church to be
dedicated after World War II. By this time, Church membership in Klamath Falls alone had
grown to 900.
In 1949, 50 full-time missionaries were sent to Medford to
proselyte and create a city directory.
By 1953, Church membership in the area grew to 2,700 and
the Klamath and Rogue River districts were combined to form the Klamath Falls Stake.
The stake covered 24,000 square miles and included six wards and five branches.
Over the next 30 years, three additional stakes were created in southern Oregon to
accommodate the Church's growing membership: the Medford Stake in 1964, Grants Pass Oregon
Stake in 1976, and Central Point Oregon Stake in 1982.
Until 1964, when the Oakland California Temple was
completed, Church members in Oregon traveled as far as Los Angeles to participate in
sacred temple ordinances.
In 1989, the Portland Oregon Temple was completed, and on
March 21, 1999, plans were announced for a temple to be built in Medford. The new temple,
Oregon's second, serves approximately 28,600 Church members in southern Oregon and
northern California.
Today, there are approximately 130,000 members of the
Church living in 35 stakes throughout Oregon. Missionary headquarters are in Eugene and
Portland.
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