Atlanta Georgia Temple: Highlights of Church history in Georgia
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1843 – Elder John U. Eldredge, preached in Georgia en route from Alabama to North Carolina.
1876 – Elder John Morgan organized a branch in Haywood Valley near Rome, Ga.
1879 – Rome, Ga., about 60 miles north of Atlanta, became headquarters of the Southern States Mission.
1879 – Elder Joseph Standing was killed when a mob attacked him and his companion, Elder Rudger Clawson, near Varnell's Station in northern Georgia.
1901 – Missionaries, who had been directed to focus more of their work in the cities, baptized Julia Mozell Love, the first convert in Savannah.
1908 – A branch was organized and a meetinghouse was constructed in Atlanta. In 1928, President Heber J. Grant dedicated a new and larger brick meetinghouse that replaced the original building.
1937 – Homer Yarn, a local member, was called as president of the Georgia District of the Southern States Mission.
1957 – Elders Mark E. Petersen and LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve organized the Atlanta stake, the first stake in Georgia. William Nichols was its president.
1981 – President Spencer W. Kimball dedicated the Atlanta temple site.
1983 – The Atlanta Georgia Temple was dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then second counselor in the First Presidency.
1998 – President Gordon B. Hinckley visited Atlanta and spoke to more than 13,000 members.
2009 – The Atlanta temple was closed July 1 for extensive refurbishing work to begin.
2011 – Some 57,000 people toured the Atlanta Georgia Temple's open house, April 9-23. President Thomas S. Monson rededicated the temple on May 1 in two sessions.
There are some 78,000 members of the Church in Georgia.
