Temple Site Possibilities: North America Central Area--Part One--Current Temple Districts

Hello again, everyone! I thought I would take some time right now to continue my series of posts about temple possibilities by putting together some thoughts about the North America Central Area. Because there are 14 temples currently operating within that area, with 1 more (the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple) that has been announced and is awaiting full-scale construction efforts to begin: that is anticipated to happen sometime during April or May next year. As I said yesterday in my preliminary post about the areas of the Church that cover North America, the US has entered a period of nationwide stagnated growth, with the exception of the strongholds comprising the "Mormon corridor"

I also wanted to reiterate what I said yesterday in my post about the North America Areas: that the one difficulty with those areas is that the boundary lines for the areas do not correspond with those for the state, province, and territorial boundaries within the US and Canada. That said, the temple district boundaries in the North America Central area are fairly specific in what is covered. When I get to my next post (which will discuss the temple possibilities I see for this area), I may have possibilities listed that are not actually part of that area because of the existing boundaries. Just wanted to note that before I go any further.

Now, let's dive right in to talking about the 15 temples in the North America Central Area, including what each of those 15 temple districts cover. I will follow this post up with another one later today or sometime tomorrow that will go into specifics about the future possibilities I see for this area. There are three of them, and I will explain those choices in that next post.

The 15 temples falling within the North America Central Area are as follows (note that I am listing the Canadian temples before the US ones, and that if a province, territory or state has more than one, they are all listed in a group): Calgary, Cardston, and Edmonton Alberta;  Regina Saskatchewan; Winnipeg Manitoba; Billings Montana; Bismarck North Dakota; Chicago and Nauvoo Illinois; Denver and Fort Collins Colorado; Kansas City and St. Louis Missouri; St. Paul Minnesota; and Winter Quarters Nebraska.

Let's talk briefly about each of those temple districts. We begin in Canada, where we turn our focus first to Alberta, which has three temples total, in Calgary, Cardston, and Edmonton. In addition to the three temples, Alberta has two missions of the Church (in Calgary and Edmonton) and 25 stakes, which are further divided into 191 wards and 33 branches, for a total of 224 congregations.

In terms of each of the three districts, I have found out the following information: the Calgary Alberta Temple only covers the 7 stakes within that province. As for the Cardston Temple district, it is comprised of the 15 stakes within southern Alberta, northern Montana, and the British Colombian Rockies. One of the future temple possibilities I will discuss in my next post would draw away some stakes from this temple district.  And the Edmonton Temple district is made up of the 7 stakes in Central and Northern Alberta.

Next, the Regina Saskatchewan Temple serves the Saints within the two stakes of the Church in Saskatchewan and the one that is located in Winnipeg. The Manitoba Saints currently have to journey to the Regina Saskatchewan Temple to worship, a distance of 355.9 miles. So it would seem that the announcement of the Winnipeg Temple was mostly (if not entirely) motivated by a desire to provide those Saints a temple in their midst.

We now turn our attention to the US temples within this area. The Billings Montana Temple serves 7 stakes in Billings and the surrounding regions of Montana and 4 stakes in Wyoming. The Bismarck North Dakota Temple serves Saints in the 4 stakes and 1 district in both North and South Dakota.

In Illinois, there are two temples currently, one in Chicago, and one in Nauvoo. The Chicago Temple serves a total of 14 stakes, 7 in Northern Illinois, 5 in Wisconsin, one in Northern Indiana, and one in Southwestern Michigan. As for the Nauvoo Temple, its district takes in 5 stakes in Eastern Iowa and West Central Illinois.

Next, as mentioned above, we  come to Colorado. The Denver temple serves those Saints that are in 19 stakes, 18 in Colorado, and one in Western Kansas. The Fort Collins Temple serves the 13 stakes found within Northern Colorado and Southeastern Wyoming.

Turning now to Missouri, the two temples in the state are located in Kansas City and St. Louis. The Kansas City temple serves those Saints within the 10 stakes in Western Missouri, and Northeastern Kansas. The St. Louis Missouri Temple district is comprised of 10 stakes, 8 in Eastern Missouri, and 2 in Southern Illinois

The St. Paul Temple district serves 8 stakes in Minnesota, 1 in Wisconsin, and 1 district in Northwestern Ontario. The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple serves a total of 10 stakes, 5 of which are in Iowa, 4 of which are in Nebraska, and the last of which is in Southeastern South Dakota.

Again, this is just a very general overview of the current temple districts to set the background for my next post, in which I will discuss the prospects I see for future temples within this area. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.