Jainism in the United States

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The Jains started arriving in significant numbers to the United States in the early 1970s. At the present time, there are a number of Jain temples and institutions in the USA, and the number of Jains in America is probably greater than 100,000.

Even before this wave of immigration, there were two events that anticipated the future arrival of Jainism in the United States.

The first was the construction of a "Jain temple" at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904-5. At that time, there were no Jains in the USA. After the fair, it was dismantled and rebuilt in Las Vegas, Nevada, only to be taken down in the 1960's. Now that Jains live in the USA, the remains of the building have been acquired by the Jain Society of Los Angeles, and is being reassembled.

The second event was the arrival of Virachand Gandhi, who is considered the father of American Jainism.

[edit] Chronology

1850 - American Vegetarian Society established
1893 - Arrival of Virachand Gandhi to participate in Chicago's World Parliament of Religions
1904 - Jain Temple at St. Louis World's Fair
1944 - First Jain settlers in USA
1966 - Jain Center of America in New York established
1971 - Arrival of Shri Chitrabhanuji
1974 - Arrival of Muni Sushil Kumar
1981 - First Jain convention in Los Angeles
1983 - Formal organization of JAINA (Jain Associations in North America)
1990 - Temple Pratishtha, The Jain Sangh Cherry Hill, New Jersey
1990 - Temple Pratishtha, Jain Society of Metropolitian Washington [1]
1991 - Founding of Siddhachalam, the Jain tirtha
1993 - Temple Pratishtha, Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago [2]
1995 - Temple Pratishtha, Jain Center of Cincinnati and Dayton [3]
1998 - Temple Pratishtha, Jain Society of Greater Detroit [4]
1998 - Jain population in North America estimated to be about 75,000-85,000
2000 - Temple Pratishtha, Jain Center of Northern California (JCNC) [5]
2000 - Jain Vishwa Bharati Orlando [6]
2002 - Jain population estimated to be about 100,000-150,000