The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Louisiana

On January 4, 1841, Joseph Smith received a letter from Elam Ludington and Eli G. Terrill of New Orleans, who requested an elder to assist the members of the church who were living there. "Send us Peter, or an Apostle to preach unto Jesus," they wrote, and enclosed $10 to help defray expenses. The group may have been among those from the sailing ship Isaac Newton, which arrived from London on December 21, 1840.

Harrison Sagers arrived at New Orleans on March 28, 1841. He preached to large crowds but was troubled by mobs. At one point, he was protected from a mob by a group of courageous women who circled him in his defense. He baptized several people. Additional missionaries were sent from Nauvoo to assist Sagers in his duties.

By November 1841, New Orleans became the principal port of arrival for Latter-day Saints from Europe. Over the next few years, 17,463 individuals immigrated by way of this port city. From 1844 to 1855, due to outbreaks of major epidemics, New York became the port of arrival for the church immigrants, and the New Orleans and Lafayette branch functioned in New Orleans.

No other known missionary efforts took place in Louisiana until February 16, 1896, when missionaries were assigned to the Louisiana Conference, part of the Southern States Mission. Joseph A. Cornwall arrived in Louisiana on September 10 of the same year. By the end of 1897, he and his companions had baptized their first converts. On March 12, 1899, the Red Rock Branch was formed. John R. Jones, a sawmill owner, befriended the missionaries and protected them from opposition. Alexander Colman Wagley was baptized on September 4, 1898, and he became the first president of the Red Rock Branch.[2] David A Broadbent, president of the Louisiana District from 1898 to 1899, reported 110 people had been baptized by June 16, 1899.

In October 1899, a mob threatened a missionary under the medical care of Jane Holt Clark, a midwife. She confronted the mob with a shotgun and said, "I brought a good many of you into the world, and I can take you out again just as easily." The mob dispersed.

A wagon train of members from Pride traveled to and settled at Corleyville in Sabine Parish. They organized a branch on November 12, 1916 and erected meetinghouse around 1920. By June 1935, the Many Branch had been organized, and its meeting house was built by December 6, 1941.

Howard and Marion Bennion arrived in New Orleans in the 1920s and organized a branch in their apartment in 1924. The branch struggled in the early 1930s, but due to an increased effort from the local members, the New Orleans branch began to grow. One hundred people celebrated the New Orleans Branch centennial in 1944.[3] Due to the influx of Latter-day Saint servicemen who came during World War II, the branch had grown to 300 members by 1948. A meetinghouse was established in January 1951 and then dedicated on November 16, 1952. That same year, meetinghouses were dedicated in Hammond, Williamson, and Lake Charles. The New Orleans Stake, Louisiana's first, was organized on June 19, 1955, by Harold B. Lee and Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve.

On May 15, 1977, church president Spencer W. Kimball visited Baton Rouge and spoke to a congregation of 12,000. On March 2, 2003, Gordon B. Hinckley spoke to 5,000 members in the University of New Orleans Lakefront Arena as part of a two-day tour of members in the Southern states.[4]

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, several thousand Latter-day Saint volunteers from seven states (including Louisiana), poured into the devastated area. Many of them took time out of their jobs or came down on the weekends to help those in need of assistance, regardless of faith.[5][6]

In 2020, the LDS Church canceled services and other public gatherings indefinitely in response to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.[7]

Louisiana is currently has six stakes with stake center within the state. Since the LDS Church has no paid local clergy, stake presidents, bishops, etc. have their own occupations.

Since World War II, Louisiana has been included in the Texas-Louisiana, Gulf States, and the Louisiana Shreveport missions. The Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission was organized in 1975.

On July 16, 2000 the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple was dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics (United States)

• Carol Ann Wagley Burnham, "From Red Rock to Denham Springs", Ensign, April 1983
• "Louisiana", Newsroom
• ComeUntoChrist.org Latter-day Saints Visitor site
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Official site