Portraits of the past: Preston, England

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Kenneth Mays

Preston, Lancashire, England, is a city of great historical significance in Mormon history. The first Latter-day Saint missionaries, including Elders Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde of the Twelve, arrived there on July 22, 1837. Beginning in Preston, tens of thousands of converts would come from the British Isles over the next half-century. Researchers have written that Preston has the oldest continuously functioning church unit in the world. Some believe that the store was there when the missionaries first labored there. Future Church president Gordon B. Hinckley served in Preston as a young missionary in the 1930s. Years later, President Hinckley announced that the Preston Temple would be built in nearby Chorley, and that temple was dedicated by President Hinckley in 1998.

From the archive

• Portraits of the past: Success in Downham – April 1, 2010
• Portraits of the past: Sesquicentennial Plaque – March 4, 2010
• Portraits of the past: Preaching in Preston – Dec. 17, 2009
• Portraits of the past: Missionary lodgings – Nov. 26, 2009
• English saints a testament of faith – Kristine Frederickson on MormonTimes.com – June 21, 2009

Preston, Lancashire, England, is a city of great historical significance in Mormon history. The first Latter-day Saint missionaries, including Elders Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve, arrived there on July 22, 1837. Beginning in Preston, tens of thousands of converts would come from the British Isles over the next half-century. Researchers have written that Preston has the oldest continuously functioning church unit in the world. Some believe that the store, left, was there when the missionaries first labored there. Future church president Gordon B. Hinckley served in Preston as a young missionary in the 1930s. Years later, President Hinckley announced that the Preston Temple would be built in nearby Chorley, and that temple was dedicated by President Hinckley in 1998.

— Kenneth Mays