FLORIDA ORLANDO MISSION HISTORY
Florida has a deep Latter-Day Saint heritage, going back as far as 1843, when Elders Daniel Cathcart and William Brown were sent to Pensacola, Florida, to “build up churches.” Traveling elders were occasionally sent into Florida until the Florida Conference was officially organized November 1, 1895, which Conference was within the Southern States Mission. The first branch in Florida was organized in Ashville, Jefferson County, on May 9, 1897, and was known as “The Hassell Branch.” By 1900 there were over a thousand members of the Church in Florida. The early missionaries sang many songs one of which was entitled “Florida.”
The Florida Conference of the Southern States Mission covered the entire state initially, with Jacksonville as the center of growth and activity. Traveling elders stopped and preached at Kissimmee and Tampa. Some of the first baptisms occurred near Kissimmee in Boggy Creek. On March 3, 1890, Elders of the Conference called upon the mayor of Longwood, a town just north of Orlando. The mayor granted them the use of a schoolhouse to hold cottage meetings.
In 1915 Julius C. Neubeck, who had moved to Miami earlier, was called by President Charles A. Callis, the Southern States Mission President, to preside over the members in Miami
The Saints organized a Sunday School in Tampa in 1919, and a branch in Ft. Myers and Tampa in 1927.
Then in 1937, the first chapel in central Florida was built in Orlando and was known as the Lake Dot chapel, which chapel was located on the present Orlando Arena parking lot in front of Lake Dot in downtown Orlando.
Also, in 1937, the Southern States Mission reported that 15 missionaries labored in Florida, and that the Church has 14 chapels with over 4,000 members in the state.
The first Florida Stake of the Church was organized in Jacksonville on January 19, 1947, by Charles A. Callis, accompanied by Elder Harold B. Lee. Elder Callis was known as the Apostle of the South and had wished to live to see a stake organized in the South.
In 1950, under the guidance of Elder Henry D. Moyle of the Council of the Twelve, the Church established what is now officially called Deseret Cattle and Citrus Ranch in Osceola County, southeast of Orlando. Today the Church Ranch owns 316,000 acres covering three counties, making it the largest cattle ranch in Florida.
By the late 1950’s, there were enough Latter-day Saints in the central Florida District to organize a stake. Orlando was the second Florida stake, and was organized on February 23, 1958, by Elders Henry D. Moyle and Delbert L. Stapley. The stake at that time covered a large geographical area from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf on the West Coast, including Daytona, Orlando, and Tampa.
A year and a half later (October 1959) the Tampa Stake was established. Then on November 13, 1960, the Miami Stake was organized by Elder Delbert L. Stapley.
On November 1, 1960, the Florida Mission was created out of the Southern States Mission, with Elder Karl R. Lyman as the first mission president. This was the first mission for the State of Florida. The mission headquarters were established in Winter Park (next to Orlando) at the Randall Mansion on the ‘‘Ripples’’ estate overlooking Lake Sue. The spacious Randall Mansion contained over a dozen rooms and six large fireplaces and was considered a masterpiece of design and construction. This mission home, the first in Florida, served as the headquarters for four mission presidents, and had become famous when Winston Churchill stayed at the mansion in January of 1942. It was sold in 1972, soon after the division of the Florida Mission.
The above material are extracts from Mark Skousen, Sunshine in the Soul, One Hundred Years of the Mormon Church in Florida, Skousen Publishing Co., Inc. Winter Park, 1996
The original Florida mission was divided into the Florida South Mission July 1, 1971, then later into the Ft. Lauderdale Mission (June 1974); the Tampa Mission being created in 1976, and the Jacksonville Mission in July of 1987
Then, almost 40 years after the original mission was created in Florida, the Florida Orlando Mission was created from the Florida Jacksonville, Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale Missions. The Mission’s official starting date was on 1 July 1998, as President and Sister A. Paul King arrived from Utah. Headquarters was established this time in Hunter’s Creek of Orlando, Florida. President and Sister Wesley White from Syracuse, Utah served from July 2001 to July 2004. President and Sister Kent W. Farnsworth from Salt Lake City, Utah served from July 2004 to July 2007. President and Sister John C. Darrington from Richland, Washington served from July 2007 to July 2010. President and Sister Garth V. Hall from Rexburg, Idaho served from July 2010 to July 2013. President and Sister Michael J. Berry from Draper, Utah served from July 2013 to July 2016. President and Sister David K. Clark from Salt Lake City, Utah served from July 2016 to July 2019. President and Sister Ashcraft from Nampa, Idaho are serving currently.
On 10 January 2016 the Vero Beach Zone was added to the Florida Orlando Mission. Areas from the Ft. Lauderdale Mission (8 Full Time Missionaries) and the Tampa Mission are now part of the Florida Orlando mission. The Vero Beach Stake was created by Elder Kopischke of the Seventy and was organized from the Cocoa Stake (Florida Orlando Mission), Sarasota Stake (Tampa Mission), and from the Stewart Stake (Ft. Lauderdale Mission). With the creation of the Ocala Stake, the Lecanto and Belleview wards became part of the Florida Tampa Mission in June 2019.
The Florida Orlando Mission is blessed to have within its boundaries the first temple of the Church in Florida, the Orlando Temple. The temple was announced in February 1990, with the groundbreaking taking place in June 1992, and the dedication on October 9-11, 1994. The Church Ranch, Deseret Cattle and Citrus, is also located within the Mission boundaries.
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