On Nov. 10, 1940, 16 members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held Sunday school at the Missouri Bible College in Columbia. The Sunday school meeting marked the beginning of the LDS church’s first branch in Columbia.

Ted Baker still remembers the first time he met missionaries from the Latter-Day Saints church. The year was 1928, and he was only 8. The missionaries only came to his house in Columbia twice that year, but Baker can still picture them discussing religion with his parents in the living room.

Baker didn’t see another missionary for 22 years. Michael Reall, president of the Columbia stake of the Mormon church, said the church’s missionaries during that time were not in the same situation as the missionaries of today.

“During that time, you might have one pair of missionaries in a city like St. Louis,” Reall said. “Now we have a pair of missionaries for every ward.”

In 1951, Baker became one of 40 members of the Columbia branch of the Latter-Day Saints church, which held Sunday meetings in a house on Benton Street in Columbia. Baker said the early years of the Columbia branch featured a lot of adjustments to the constantly changing accommodations.

“They started at the college but had to move into a basement, then a smoke house, and then they moved into the house on Benton Street,” Baker said.

Although Baker said he has never felt like the church was ever unwelcome in Columbia, the state of Missouri has not always embraced the Mormon church. On Oct. 27, 1838, Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs issued an executive order that stated “the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace.” Boggs’ order led to more than 10,000 Mormons leaving Missouri. The order was not formally rescinded until 1976. Missouri’s violent history with the Mormon church is not the cause of the church’s small numbers in Columbia during the early part of the twentieth century, Reall said. He said he believes a lack of understanding or misunderstandings contributed to low membership. “When I first moved here, the history of the Mormons was not in any curriculum at schools.”

The Mormon church in Columbia has grown from a branch of 14 members to more than 1,500 members worshiping in three locations, the largest of which is the Highlands Ward, 4708 Highlands Parkway. Reall said the growth can be attributed to an increase in community awareness about the church. “Once people get to know our members, they gain respect for them.”