Concerted missionary efforts in Alabama started around 1842-1843 in Alabama with the work of Elders James Brown and John U. Eldridge. Before August 24, 1842, branches in Tuscaloosa and Perry counties were organized by Elder Brown. Elder Eldridge baptized his brother, wife, and mother-in-law earlier that year. Elder John Brown, was among the early missionaries baptized a number a people in Tuscaloosa and Perry Counties including some of the first African-Americans to join the church. Hagar and Jack, two African-American men, joined the Church on October 24, 1843. Many of the early missionaries frequently passed between Alabama and Mississippi in their work. Most early members immigrated west to join the body of the saint and to avoid persecution. Some of these Alabama members were among the group of "Mississippi Saints" that emigrated under the leadership of John Brown and William Crosby in 1846. In 1876, missionary work resumed with the creation of the Southern States Mission. Opposition was widespread in the 1880s with some even asking Alabama's governor to force the missionaries from the state. This subsided somewhat by 1894. A new branch was established in Magnolia, Alabama during the late 1890s. Despite the tarring and feathering of some missionaries to the branch and the attempted arson of an early meeting place, a wood-frame Magnolia Chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was completed in 1913. Two elders from Utah assisted in the construction, Elder Sellers from Vernal and Elder Joseph E. Ward from Parowan. Although the branch completed a new brick chapel adjacent to the old one in 1972, the historic chapel continues to be used for social occasions. It is the oldest surviving LDS chapel in the state. The Magnolia Branch is currently a member of the Montgomery Stake. A Sunday School was organized in Montgomery on August 22, 1911. Many of these early converts were baptized in the Alabama River. By the mid-1930s Sunday School groups existed in Birmingham, Elkmont, Gadsen, McCalla, and Montgomery. In 1937, the Alabama District split in half to create the Alabama and North Alabama Districts. In 1940, the Montgomery Branch staged a pioneer parade that attracted thousands. The LDS Church began to grow more rapidly in Alabama following World War II. Alabama's first stake was created in Huntsville in 1968. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, several thousand Latter-day Saint volunteers—Helping Hands, from a 7 state areas, went to Louisiana and Mississippi. Many of them taking time out of their jobs or came down on the weekends to help anyone needing assistance. In September 2008, Latter-day Saints across Alabama went to the Baton Rouge area to aid cleanup efforts following Hurricane Gustav, as well as other disaster cleanup efforts in following years. In April 27, 2011 There was a deadly tornado that affected Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. The tornado was an extremely violent and long-tracked EF5 wedge tornado that devastated several towns in rural northern Alabama, before tearing through the northern suburbs of Huntsville and causing damage in rural portions of southern Tennessee on the afternoon and early evening of Wednesday, April 27, 2011. It was the deadliest tornado of the 2011 Super Outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak in United States history. The tornado reached a maximum width of 1.25 miles and was estimated to have had peak winds of 210 mph. The tornado killed 72 people. Members of the Tupelo Mississippi Stake volunteered to clean up the area. In 2020, the LDS Church canceled services and other public gatherings indefinitely in response to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
