By Michelle Lizon
Before 1956, most BYU students living on or near campus crowded into the Joseph Smith Building to meet for church each Sunday. The Provo family wards also became filled with BYU students who lived off-campus. The students soon outnumbered the rest of the ward members as BYU expanded.
Between the end of World War II and 1961, the number of students attending BYU increased from about 2,000 to 11,000.
'BYU grew overnight,' said Richard O. Cowan, a BYU professor of church history and doctrine. 'There was a great concern about providing meaningful church activity for all the students.'
Cowan also wrote 'The Latter-day Saint Century,' in which he detailed the establishment of the first BYU stake. In it, he wrote that in 1947 two experimental branches were formed for students, demonstrating their success by setting the highest attendance records in East Provo Stake.
It was difficult for students to be involved and receive a calling because so many students attended each BYU branch, Cowan said.
As concern grew, the BYU branches were replaced in 1956 with the BYU Stake Organization, which created 12 student wards.
A. Lester Allen, a bishop called in 1956, said that before BYU wards were formed many students went to their home ward bishops. He said many students did not feel comfortable talking to young branch presidents who were so near their own age.
'Many of them often did not have the experience or maturity to make judgment calls,' he said. 'It helped when the wards were organized with older bishops because students felt more at ease talking about their problems.'
The new wards gave students a greater opportunity for involvement because each ward had fewer members and more positions to fill.
'The new organization really brought a lot of order, ' Allen said. 'Before this, students tended to get lost and become inactive in the giant campus branches, but when the wards were formed there was a higher percentage of activity.'
The new wards also changed the social aspect of student life. Today, BYU students have the option to attend a wide variety of ward activities. Before 1956, BYU students were involved in social units that were similar to fraternities and sororities, Cowan said.
'There was very little opportunity for a social life,' Allen said. 'A very restricted number of students were in the social circles.'
The wards became a training ground as the new organization made more callings available to students, who previously did not have a calling.
'One of the inspired outcomes of this organization was to give students the opportunity to increase their service and activity in the church,' Allen said.
BYU has grown rapidly since the 12 wards were formed in 1956. BYU space auditor, Doug Bennion, said there are 192 single student wards today and 51 married wards.
In 'Brigham Young University: A School of Destiny,' former BYU President Ernest Wilkinson reflected on two decades of leadership at BYU. He said that the organization of the BYU stakes and wards was 'the most satisfying accomplishment during the time I have been here.'
(For comments, e-mail Michelle Lizon at mlizon@gmail.com)