At the 181st semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in October 2011, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new Mormon temple in Star Valley, Wyoming.  The prophet joked that he would personally dedicate the new temple, because the fishing is good nearby.  This will be the first temple to be built in Wyoming.

Mormons in Wyoming had previously attended the temple in Rexburg, Idaho.  The journey was considerably more difficult during the winter.

Mormon pioneers in the first westward party in 1847 made their way through Wyoming, stopping at Fort Laramie to repair their wagons.   They followed the Oregon Trail along the Platte River to Fort Bridger

The pioneers used rafts and a boat to ferry themselves and their belongings across the Platte River. Nine men stayed behind to continue the profitable ferry, which found business from Oregon-bound travelers.

In Wyoming, the pioneers met Jim Bridger, who gave an optimistic opinion of the Great Basin area. Most pioneer companies traveled through Wyoming without incident; however, the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies of 1857 started later in the year and became trapped in the winter snows. Approximately 200 of the 1,075 in the companies died. Others were saved by Utah rescue parties.

In 1877, Church members settled the Star Valley area, and the following year, Church President Brigham Young dedicated the spot as a gathering place for members.  In 1992, Wyoming Latter-day Saints erected three monuments in memory of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies. Later, the Church purchased land at the mouth of Sweetwater Canyon where 21 pioneers died in one night. These sites were dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

There are over 63,000 Latter-day Saints in the state of Wyoming in 154 congregations.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

The Provo Tabernacle  was originally built between 1883 and 1898 on University Avenue between Center Street and 100 South, and was a city landmark for over 100 years.  The tabernacle had been updated as the years went by, but its distinguished architecture was never changed.  The building was  gutted by fire in December 2010.  Apparently, no arson was involved.  The building was beloved and venerated by generations of residents and BYU students who worshiped and attended a variety of meetings, concerts and other events there.

During the months after the fire and the investigation that followed, residents wondered whether the historical facade of the building could be saved.  There was an audible gasp of joy at the announcement in General Conference by Prophet Thomas S. Monson that the historic tabernacle would be remade into a temple.  There is a precedent for this action, since the Vernal Utah Temple (dedicated in 1997) was created from the 1907 Uintah Stake Tabernacle.  The new temple will include “a complete restoration of the original historic exterior.

Speculation had intensified during recent months as the church had been working on acquiring additional properties on the Tabernacle block. In late August 2011, it announced the acquisition of land from two businesses on the block, the Travelodge Motel and Los 3 Amigos restaurant.  At the end of September 2011 the Provo Municipal Council voted to sell to the church the property upon which the old Hotel Roberts used to be located. The hotel was demolished in 2004.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

With those acquisitions — and impending acquisitions — the Church will own the entire Tabernacle block, with the exception of the Post Office property. The Church has not indicated any plans for acquiring that property.

The Provo Utah Temple is the most-used temple in the Church, with the Brigham Young University campus and Missionary Training Center nearby.  This, second, temple in Provo will help to ease the crowding and waiting times experienced by the Provo Temple.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

By Terrie.

While visiting friends in Ohio, my husband and I suddenly realized we were only a few hours from Kirtland, Ohio, an important location in early Mormon history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes called Mormons, settled in that town for a time and built their first temple there. Today, some of the important historic sites have been restored and are open to the public.

The first place we visited was Historic Kirtland. This site, owned by the Mormons, focuses on Newel K. Whitney and his wife, Ann. They had been searching for a church to join when they had a shared vision in which they were promised the word of the Lord would soon come to their town.  A few weeks later, four Mormon missionaries arrived in town. Ann joined the church first, and her husband followed a few days later, after receiving his own witness.

The Whitneys were an important part of Mormon history in Kirtland. Newel was a successful shop owner whose store was a gathering place for the community. Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, and his wife Emma, stayed with them for several weeks and then again the next year before moving into their own home in Kirtland.

Newel K. Whitney’s store was attacked by a mob, which did not dim his faith in any way, even though a great deal of merchandise was destroyed. He donated land to build the sawmill that was used to build the temple. He even helped the Mormon Church learn how to open and operate a store that would help to pay off the debts incurred in building the temple, despite the fact that this store competed with his own. He was a man who put God before himself.

The home, store, ashery, and sawmill have been restored, along with some other buildings. Our tour began with a video that helped us understand what events from Mormon history happened during that time period. Having recently written about church history, I had read about many of these events, but seeing them in the video helped me to understand the impact they must have had on the participants. Terrible persecutions occurred  in Kirtland. One day Joseph Smith was awake late at night helping his wife care for their adopted twins, who were ill. Eventually he sent his wife to bed with the girl, and he stayed up with his son, who was more seriously ill. After a time, the baby slept and Joseph placed it in its bed and lay down nearby to try to sleep a little. However, a mob broke into the home and dragged Joseph outside, where they threatened to kill him. Instead, he was tarred and feathered, along with another church leader. Perhaps the most horrendous part of this night though is that the mob left the door to the house open and the little boy died as a result of the cold air hitting him for a brief time while he was so sick. Although they decided not to kill Joseph, the mob did indirectly kill his child through their choices.

The next day, Joseph preached, despite his injuries. Some of the men in the mob showed up to the meeting, but Joseph did not call attention to them or even mention what happened. He simply delivered his sermon. Later in the day I was able to see the house where he delivered that sermon.

I am a history buff, and I have always loved visiting the places where notable events happened. I don’t get much from random statues placed in parks, but when I visit a place where special people were and where important things happened, I always feel a connection to those people and events. I stood in the Whitney store and, as another family searched the handwritten shop records for their ancestors’ names, I simply stood quietly and pictured Joseph Smith and other important church leaders entering the room where I now stood. I tried to picture them interacting with each other. Having a good imagination, I quickly found myself not in a modern store with missionaries and tourists, but a bustling community center filled with people I’ve read about during my time as a church member. I could see Joseph coming into the room, smiling and greeting people, perhaps answering a gospel question from a member trying to understand her new religion, kneeling to play with a small child (knowing he loved children), and turning back to help an elderly woman up the stairs. I pictured him paying special attention to Whitney’s brother and aunt, who were not members of the Church, demonstrating through his actions what a Mormon really was.

The School of the Prophets was especially meaningful to me. It is a place I had always wanted to see. It was located upstairs, over the store, and was a small room set aside for learning about the gospel. In this room, men were trained to better understand their religion and prepare to lead the Church. Since everyone was new to the gospel in those days, it was important for each new or prospective leader to get a solid foundation in his new Mormon religion. The three sister missionaries who showed us around the village shared an event that happened in that room. Joseph Smith told the men gathered that if they humbled themselves and had enough faith, they would see Jesus. As they prayed, a personage walked through the room from east to west. Joseph asked the men if they could see the personage and then he identified Him as Jesus Christ. This event was recorded by at least two other men, John Murdock and Zebedee Coltrin.

A few years ago I went to Palmyra, New York, where Joseph Smith, as a teenager, saw God and Jesus Christ. I walked through the woods where this happened. We don’t know the exact spot, but it really didn’t make a difference. I understood that I stood in a woods that Jesus and God had once visited. This room had that same sacred feeling to it. Because it is again being used for sacred purposes—that of helping people come to a testimony that Jesus Christ lives—I believe the Spirit of that day lingers in the room to help testify of the Savior to anyone who enters it with a sincere desire to have a testimony of Jesus Christ.

That a new temple would be built in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, was announced by Mormon Prophet Thomas S. Monson during the semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October, 2009.  The temple site is located on the northeast corner of Interstate 75 and Griffin Road on SW 154th Avenue in Davie, Florida.

The temple will be the second in Florida — the first was the Orlando Florida Temple, dedicated in 1994.  The temple will serve approximately 25,000 Church members from congregations in Stuart to the Florida Keys as well as members living in Ft. Myers, Naples and in the Bahamas.   The gorgeous 28,000-square-foot building was described in permit application materials as “an interpretation of Neoclassicism with arches, columns and a steeple.”

The groundbreaking ceremony to initiate construction was announced for Saturday, June 18, 2011, at 10:00 a.m.  Due to parking constraints, attendance at the groundbreaking was by invitation only.  However, the groundbreaking was scheduled to be aired on closed-circuit television at Mormon meetinghouses in Florida.

When construction is complete, an open house will be scheduled so that the general public can tour the temple before its dedication as a House of the Lord.  After dedication as a holy house, only worthy members of the Mormon Church who hold temple recommends may enter.  Mormons worship on Sundays in chapels, also called “meetinghouses.”  Temples are open most hours of the day, five days a week, and those wishing to attend may do so during those hours.  The temple is a place of meditation and prayer, where higher covenants are made between the Lord and His children.  Temples are also places of education, wherein one may learn the purpose of life.  Work in holy temples is for the living and the dead.

At the 181st general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new temple in Fort Collins, Colorado. This will be Colorado’s second temple. Fort Collins is about 57 miles north of Denver. There are approximately 140,000 Mormons in Colorado.

The Fort Collins Colorado Temple is expected to serve members living in northern Colorado, southern Wyoming, and western Nebraska who currently travel to attend the Denver Colorado Temple and the Billings Montana Temple.

The temple is expected to be about 24,000 to 28,000 square feet and similar to the Newport Beach California Temple.  On July 8, 2011, the location for the future temple was announced as the southeast corner of the intersection at Trilby Road and Timberline Road. A large LDS chapel is across the street from this location.

Progress and Updates

In November 2011 a city planning board  recommended land for the proposed LDS temple be annexed into the city and rezoned, a move that will allow plans for the temple to advance.

Opponents said the area is not suitable for a temple because it is surrounded by a subdivision with a fire station, day-care center, church, farmland and a nature preserve.

The city council is expected to make a final decision soon. If it approves the recommendation, the church would submit a development plan. City planners then would address residents’ concerns over things like traffic and wildlife impacts.

In mid-November 2011 the city of Fort Collins annexed the 17-acre property for the building of the temple. [1]   A second vote is pending on the zoning change necessary.  Once the final vote is made, church officials are expected to file a detailed request to build the temple.

A new temple for Meridian, Idaho, was announced at General Conference by Mormon Prophet Thomas S. Monson on April 2, 2011. It will be the fifth temple to be built in the state of Idaho. Meridian is the third largest city in the state and is located about eleven miles west of Boise. There are more than 400,000 Latter-day Saints in Idaho.

The new temple in Meridian will decrease the load on the Boise Temple, which is filled to overflowing at some times. The Meridian-Nampa area is experiencing fast growth and the creation of new wards and stakes.

The new temple will be constructed at 7345 North Linder Road, a few blocks north of the intersection of North Linder Road and Chinden Blvd.

On October 2, 2010, at the commencement of the 180th general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new temple in Hartford, Connecticut.

A new temple to be built in Harford was announced 18 years ago, but the Church was unable to procure property for the construction.  During the years the Church was trying to purchase a building site, membership to the north and south of Hartford burgeoned, prompting the Church to abandon the project in Hartford and build temples to the north and south of the area, namely the Boston Massachusetts Temple, and the Manhatten New York Temple.

The Hartford Connecticut Temple will be the first temple built in Connecticut and the second built in New England.

Updates

In May 2012 the LDS Church submitted its plans and blueprints  for the Hartford Connecticut Mormon Temple, its surrounding buildings, and gardens.  To see the plans, click here.

On October 2, 2010, at the commencement of the 180th general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson announced that a new temple would be built in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Early in 2011 the location for the future temple was announced: The temple will be located in the city of Carmel on the southwest corner of the intersection of W116th and Spring Mill Road.

There are eleven stakes of the Mormon Church in Indiana, and these Latter-day Saints must currently travel 130 miles to the Louisville Kentucky Temple to attend.

Site for the planned Payson Utah Temple

On 25th January 2010, President Thomas S. Monson, prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced that a Mormon temple was planned for the city of Payson, Utah.  The new temple will help relieve the pressure of use on the nearby Provo Utah Temple.

The proposed temple site is on the south-west of Payson, near the I-15 highway, and when the building is completed, the temple district will encompass an area serving almost 80,000 members of the Mormon Church.

There are currently 14 other temples in operation and announced throughout the state of Utah.

In early fall of 2011, the LDS Church released a rendering of the future temple:

The groundbreaking for the Payson Utah Temple took place on Saturday, October 8, 2011.  About 6,000 people braved rain and cold to witness the event.  Prayers to lift the rain for the event were answered, but the unseasonable cold remained.   Elder Dallin H. Oaks presided over and offered the dedicatory prayer at the service, witnessed via TV transmission by other Latter-day Saints gathered in meetinghouses elsewhere in the temple district, which stretches from Spanish Fork on the north to Nephi on the south. [1]

When the temple is completed, it will be about 96,000 square feet in size, and will serve approximately 78,000 church members in 22 stakes, including nine in Spanish Fork and six in Payson.  Said Elder Oaks, “Standing just adjacent to I-15, the major north-south artery in Utah, the Payson Temple will be a dominant and visible influence on the millions who pass here, by day and by night.”

Elder William R. Walker of the Quorum of the Seventy addressed the congregation during the ceremony.  Elder Walker is the executive director of the Church’s Temple Department.  Other speakers on the program were Elder Walker’s wife, Vicki V. Walker, and Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy.

The plan to build a new temple in Brigham City Utah was announced at the general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October, 2009.  The temple will be built on the property at 250 S. Main St., directly west of and across the street from the church’s Brigham City Tabernacle at 251 S. Main.  When completed, it will be the 14th LDS temple in Utah. At the time the temple was announced, the church had 130 temples in operation worldwide, with another 21 either announced or under construction.

The city block — known to locals as Central Square — once was home to Brigham City’s Central Elementary School. After the school was razed, a professional plaza-type development was projected for the property. A recent sign on Central Square announced the property had been sold.

The block is bordered in both directions along Main Street by retail businesses and to the west by private residences.  The Box Elder Tabernacle, completed in 1890, was gutted by fire in February 1896 and rebuilt and rededicated a year later. It was closed in 1986 for major restoration and reopened and rededicated in April 1987.

With its steeple being one of the community’s most visible landmarks for miles, the tabernacle is still used for LDS conferences, concerts and other community meetings. It was included on the National Register of Historical Places in 1971 — one of the state’s first such designated sites.

A groundbreaking ceremony was announced for July 31, 2010, at 9:00 a.m.  The public was invited to attend. The event was also broadcasted to stake centers in the temple district.

Patterned after classic designs found at the Logan, Manti and Salt Lake temples, the Brigham City temple will have a limestone exterior and face east toward the tabernacle. The temple will have two spires. The angel Moroni will reach several feet higher than the highest point of the tabernacle.  Two tiered parking will enable the temple and parking to fit on the 3-acre lot.  Attractive fencing, garden and fountain will create a tranquil setting, even though the location is downtown.

Updates

The Brigham City Utah Temple will be open for public tours during a special temple open house from Aug. 18 through Sept. 15. Open house tours will not be conducted on Sundays or on Sept. 8.

Tickets for the open house will be available beginning July 30, 2012,  at www.BrighamCityMormonTemple.org.

After the open house ends, the temple will be formally dedicated in three sessions (broadcast by closed circuit television to local congregations) on September 23, 2012.  There will be a cultural celebration featuring music, song, and dance performed by local Latter-day Saints the day before the dedication.

Once the Brigham City Utah Temple is dedicated, it will be open to members of the church who have been recommended by their ecclesiastical leaders. The temple district includes some 40,000 Latter-day Saints living in 13 stakes of the church in northern Utah and southeastern Idaho. [1]