The Cardston temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints represents a drastic shift in temple architecture of the early Mormon faith. The modern granite structure was designed not to show a mere difference of aesthetic taste, but as an embodiment of the evolving relationship between the Mormon pioneers and the American government. Earlier temples, erected in the nineteenth century throughout the valleys of Utah, were constructed by Mormon pioneers at a time when the religious group desired to separate themselves from the United States physically, politically, and architecturally. When the temple was built in Cardston, Alberta (1913-1923), it was a radical departure from its medievalist predecessors in Utah. The selected proposal was a modern Prairie-school style building, a manifestation of Utah's recent interest in integrating into American society shortly after being admitted to the Union as a state in 1896.