Brooklyn Saints A
Mormon immigrant company, under direction of
Samuel Brannan, departed on the ship
Brooklyn from New York on February 4, 1846, en route to the
Salt Lake Valley via California. The ship navigated around
Cape Horn and arrived at
Yerba Buena on July 31, 1846. The company of around 230 people were the first known
Latter-day Saints to set foot in California. Their numbers nearly tripled the population of the small town of Yerba Buena, later renamed San Francisco. While there, Brannan and other church members began publication of one of California's first English-language newspapers, the
California Star, in October 1846. One of the
Brooklyn saints, Angeline Lovett, set up a school in the old Franciscan
Dolores Mission, the first English-language school in California. During the early autumn of 1846, Brannan led 20 men to the
San Joaquin Valley where they founded a Mormon farming colony named
New Hope. It soon failed as heavy seasonal storms flooded the valley, destroying their crops. Most of the
Brooklyn saints left California for
Salt Lake City in 1848. In February 1856,
George Q. Cannon began publication in San Francisco of the
Western Standard, a weekly periodical supportive of the church. .
San Bernardino LDS colony :
Main: History of San Bernardino, California: Mormon San Bernardino The first colonization from Utah to California came in 1851 when a company of about 450 saints and enslaved people under direction of
Amasa M. Lyman and
Charles C. Rich of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles settled at what is now
San Bernardino. The colony was the final settlement in a string of Mormon communities extending from Salt Lake City in an area known as
Deseret. The community thrived, and on July 6, 1851, the San Bernardino Stake, California's first, was organized. The colony was dissolved by the church at the advance of
Johnston's Army toward Salt Lake City in 1857.
Brigham Young instructed the settlers to return to Utah to colonize. About 1,400 (fewer than half) returned to Utah at the request of the church. The San Bernardino Stake was dissolved in 1857 as well as the ecclesiastical units within the stake. In 1896, the Northern California and Southern California conferences were organized. The
Sacramento Conference was added in 1898. Most missionary work around the turn of the century took place in larger population centers. On January 21, 1923, the Los Angeles Stake became the first to be created in the state since the San Bernardino Stake had been dissolved. The Los Angeles Stake was divided on May 22, 1927 to form the Los Angeles and
Hollywood stakes. On July 10, 1927, the San Francisco Stake was established. On February 18, 1939, 1,400 people visited the church's exhibit at the opening day of the
Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. This exhibit was a visitors' center portraying a reduced-size
Salt Lake Tabernacle. Eight more stakes were created in the 1930s, five in the 1940s, and 30 in the 1950s. The completion of the
Los Angeles and
Oakland temples soon followed.
Recent history 1990-present At the beginning of the year 2000, California had 17
missions, more than any other state in the United States. In the state's major cities, many minority converts were taught and baptized in their native language. With a significant immigration to California from Latin America, five Spanish-speaking stakes have been organized. Various Asian and Polynesian wards function as well, and a Tongan stake was created in San Francisco in 1992. There are currently more than 200 ethnic wards and branches in California. Church president
Gordon B. Hinckley attended the rededication of the historic Hollywood (now Los Angeles California) Stake Center on June 8, 2003.
Historical reenactments In July 1996, the sesquicentennial of the arrival of the ship
Brooklyn was celebrated through reenactment of the event on a replica ship that sailed into the
San Francisco Bay. Church members throughout the state commemorated the anniversary with observances that included an exhibit at the
San Francisco Maritime Museum, performances of the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the
Davies Symphony Hall, dedications of plaques honoring the early settlers, and pioneer activities and parades. In addition to commemorating the arrival of early Latter-day Saint settlers, as well as contributions to the development of the state, members throughout California donated many hours of service in community projects sponsored by wards and stakes, including gathering supplies and food for the needy; cleaning parks, beaches and roadways; painting and repairing homeless shelters, and cleaning up graffiti. On January 18, 1997, 2,400 church members re-enacted the arrival of the Mormon Battalion in California 150 years earlier. Other Mormon Battalion celebrations along the coast followed on respective anniversaries. On March 6, 1997, Hinckley spoke to a record audience of the
Los Angeles World Affairs Council, and on March 19, he addressed the World Forum of Silicon Valley. He also spoke at various church events during the year. A church-produced video depicting the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill was donated to the state of California to be shown continuously at
Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in
Coloma.
Membership history Membership growth has slowed in California since 1991 and began to decrease starting in the 2010s. ==Disaster relief and humanitarian aid==