Following his famous speech at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda established Vedanta Societies in New York City and San Francisco in the 1890s. The Vedanta Society built its first temple, called the Old Temple, in North America in San Francisco in 1905.[Note 1][1][2][3] This temple has evolved into a bona fide Hindu temple.[Note 1] Through the 1930s and 1940s, Vedanta Societies were also established in Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Providence, Chicago, St. Louis, and Seattle. Although the Society's membership was relatively small, it paved the way for the later rise in popularity of yoga in the United States.[4]Paramahansa Yogananda also came to the United States to attend a conference in 1920 and established the Self Realization Fellowship. Promoting yoga through his book Autobiography of a Yogi, he opened centers throughout the country. By the 1950s, the Self Realization Fellowship had become the most prominent Hindu organization in America. Its international headquarters Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine opened in California in 1950.[5]
The rise of counterculture of the 1960s in the United States saw the arrival of many gurus and swamis from India. The most prominent of these were Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Swami Satchidananda, Swami Rama, and Swami Muktananda. In the 1960s and 1970s, these and other teachers established centers, temples, and ashrams, many of which continue to the present day.[6]
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 facilitated a significant increase in Indian immigration.[7][8] The Hindu students and professionals who immigrated in the late 1960s and 1970s often kept small altars and puja rooms in their homes. These altars became the first makeshift temples of the early immigrants. As these immigrants started raising families, they began taking active steps to preserve their culture and heritage. They formed religious communities such as the Swaminarayan Sampradaya and cultural organizations such as Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Odisha, Tamil, Telugu, and India Associations. Many of these associations rented halls, churches, and school auditoriums to celebrate Hindu festivals such as Diwali, Holi, and Navaratri. The religious groups often met in members' homes to study the scriptures, conduct pujas, or sing bhajans (devotional songs).[9]
By the 1970s, the religious groups and cultural associations started working together to create Hindu "temple societies." These societies formed in metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington D.C. The goal of the societies was to create permanent temples by purchasing existing properties such as private homes, former churches, warehouses, and office buildings, or by buying land and constructing new temples "from scratch." The Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh, inaugurated on June 8, 1977, and the Hindu Temple Society of North America in New York, consecrated on July 4, 1977, became the first Hindu temples in the U.S. built by Indian immigrants. In the 1980s and 1990s, temples were built in nearly all major metropolitan areas.[9][10]
In the 21st century, Hindu temples have been established in many smaller cities and towns, and larger metropolitan areas have continued to add temples, as seen in the list below. In the meantime, older temples have been expanded and/or renovated to include kitchens, dining areas, community halls, and auditoriums to meet the growing needs of their congregations.[10]
Locations of all temples having coordinates may be seen together in a map linked from "Map all coordinates using OpenStreetMap" on the right of this page.
Unique building, constructed in 1906, the first Hindu temple in the United States. The Vedanta Society of San Francisco was established in 1900 by Swami Vivekanandaji, after his attending Chicago World's Fair of 1893.[13] At Filbert Street & Webster. Or it was developed in two stages in 1905 and 1908. Incorporating Mogul was designed by Swami Trigunatitananda and architect Joseph A. Leonard. Its towers in multiple Indian, Mogul, and Western architectural styles, "are intended to symbolize the harmony of all religions and the pointed arches and domes the upward aspiration of the spiritual seeker."[14][15][16]
↑ 1.01.1However, its website states, "In actual fact, the Temple was not in any sense Hindu—not in organization, activities, membership, architecture, or decor."
↑"Old Temple". Vedanta Society of Northern California. December 30, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
↑Swami Tattwamayananda, ed. (2016). The First Universal Hindu Temple in the West: A Landmark in San Francisco. Vedanta Society of Northern California. 144 pages. Available at link from https://sfvedanta.org/the-society/old-temple/
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