1920: In response to Church growth and need for a more cost effective use of building funds, an "authentic form of LDS architecture" was developed. Church architect Don Carlos Young devised a plan that structurally joined the previously separate chapel and classrooms with the recreational or cultural hall through a connecting foyer/office/classroom complex. Often designed in the Colonial style, this became the prominent building type within the Church in the western United States.
1921: The Doctrine and Covenants was published in Salt Lake City with double-column pages, revised footnote references, headnotes and index by James E. Talmage. For the first time, the Lectures on Faith were not included.
May 6, 1922: Radio station KZN went on the air in Salt Lake City and the Church began a long and complex involvement in broadcast and programming innovation. In 1921, LDS University in Salt Lake City received the first U.S. broadcast license issued to an educational institution. Radio in America developed primarily as a commercial rather than an educational service, as did the Church's broadcasting activities. The Church bought controlling interest in KZN in April 1925 and changed the call letters to KSL. (In the 1920s, federal officials urged newspapers to develop broadcast operations. In 1922 the Deseret News did as requested, and that was the beginning of KSL and Bonneville International Corporation.)
Aug. 26, 1923: President Grant dedicated the Cardston Temple in Canada's western province of Alberta.
June 12, 1924: The First Presidency suspended missionary activities in the Empire of Japan.
September 1925: The First Presidency issued a statement, " 'Mormon' View of Evolution." In part, it stated: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, declares man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity. . . . Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes." A more lengthy statement was issued in 1909; the 1925 statement was made in the wake of international attention attracted when John T. Scopes disobeyed the law of the state of Tennessee by teaching Darwinism.
1925: Elder Melvin J. Ballard opened missionary work in South America on Dec. 6 in Argentina, and he dedicated South America for the preaching of the gospel on Dec. 25, 1925.
May 1926: Founded in 1877, Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah, closed its doors, gave its library to Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, and sold its buildings and land to Logan City to be used as a public high school.
Oct. 23, 1927: President Grant dedicated the Arizona Temple. Dedicatory services were broadcast by radio.
January 1928: The Church published its first Melchizedek Priesthood handbook. A Priesthood-Auxiliary Movement, begun in 1928, made Sunday School the instructional arm and YMMIA the activity arm of the priesthood.
1928: The Church purchased Hill Cumorah in western New York.
Oct. 18, 1929: The First Presidency issued a fourth letter to urge European members to not immigrate to the United States but to remain and build up the Church in their own countries. Earlier letters were issued Dec. 14, 1907; April 28, 1921; and Aug. 2, 1921.
November 1929: The official publication of the Sunday School began publishing under the name of The Instructor. From 1866 until 1929, the publication was The Juvenile Instructor. The name change reflected the growing use of articles on teaching methods and gospel subjects to be used by the several Church auxiliary organizations.
1929: Throughout the 1920s, the Church had an interest in using the medium of "the moving picture" to help carry the mission of Christ to all the world, and to bring humanity home to the true principles of salvation. From 1916-1929, black and white films without sound were made of Church events and leaders.
Dec. 31, 1929: The Church ended the 1920s with a membership of 663,652 in 104 stakes.
