Temples in America Articles
On 4 October 2008 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the construction of a new temple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It is assumed that the Church will follow the pattern it has established for temple building in downtown areas of large cities, such as Hong Kong and New York City, and that the temple will be a multi-level building with offices and a visitors’ center on the lower floors and ordinance rooms on the top floors.
This will be the first LDS temple to be built in Pennsylvania.
Several significant events in Church history took place in Pennsylvania including much of the translation of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of priesthood authority. The Church was first established in Pennsylvania in 1839—growing to 450 members by October 1840. Membership fell following the migration of the Saints to Salt Lake but grew again as Mormon European emigrants arrived. Eventually the first stake was organized in 1960... Read the rest of this article »
On 4 October 2008 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the construction of a new temple in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. The temple will be located southwest of the intersection of I-435 and Shoal Creek Parkway. The site is in a beautiful mixed development owned by the Church in northeast Kansas City, just west of the Liberty Jail Historic Site. The temple is expected to be similar in design to the recently dedicated Twin Falls Idaho Temple and to be completed in about three years.
In the early years of the Church, Mormons had attempted to build two temples in Missouri, one in Far West and one in Independence. Both attempts were thwarted by mob violence against the Mormons.
Mormons had also settled in Kansas, but they left when the Church relocated its headquarters to Nauvoo, Illinois, and then to Salt Lake City, Utah. Church members are now found in every major city in the Midwest. Kansas City’s first stake was established... Read the rest of this article »
Plans to build a new temple in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, were announced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) on 24 May 2008. Though preliminary plans for the architecture of this temple have been drawn up, no location has been formally announced. However, local wards conjecture that the chosen location is in northwest Phoenix, on Pinnacle Peak Road, where the Church has purchased property.
The announcement came less than a month following the announcement that temples would be built in Gilbert, Arizona, and in Arizona’s Gila Valley. A temple in Phoenix will decrease travel time for members in the northern and western areas of Phoenix, who currently attend the Mesa Arizona Temple, which serves 74 stakes throughout much of the state. The Mesa temple is attended by more patrons than any other temple outside of Utah.
In late summer 2010, The Church announced redesign plans for the temple. The new design lowers the building... Read the rest of this article »
The announcement that a new temple would be constructed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Gilbert, Arizona, USA, was made on 26 April 2008. The Gilbert Mormon temple will be located at the Southeast corner of Greenfield Road and Pecos Road, Gilbert, on a 10-acre parcel of land.
The design of the temple is expected to be similar to that of the Twin Falls, Idaho temple. Discussions took place as to what sort of land use will surround the temple, since prior plans included recreational facilities not in keeping with the sacred nature of the temple. The Church prefers residential or peaceful commercial zoning.
This temple, and the one under construction in Gila Valley, are meant to take the pressure off the two temples already existing in Arizona, in Mesa and Snowflake.
Located in the fast-growing Southeast Valley of the Phoenix metropolitan area—just south of Mesa—Gilbert and its surrounding communities enjoy a high concentration... Read the rest of this article »
The Gila Valley Arizona Mormon Temple was announced on 26 April 2008, and the groundbreaking took place on 14 February 2009. The temple is located at 5291 West Highway 70, Central, Arizona, United States.
The site is 17 acres and includes an adjacent meetinghouse and recreational area. The exterior finish of the temple will be architectural precast stone. The temple is a classic modern, single-spire design. It has two ordinance rooms and two sealing rooms and comprises 18,561 square feet.
This is Arizona’s third temple, and a fourth and fifth have been announced, to be built in Phoenix and Gilbert. Arizona has a large, active Mormon population, and has since the early days of the Church. The Gila Valley Arizona Temple serves the faithful Saints of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, who traveled some 150 miles or more to attend the Mesa Arizona Temple or the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple. The temple serves approximately... Read the rest of this article »
Ground was broken for the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple on Saturday morning, December 16, 2006, by President Gordon B. Hinckley in a service attended by hundreds of faithful members. The new temple opened its doors for public tours on June 1, 2009. The free open house required reservations and ran through August 1, 2009. Around 600,000 people attended the temple open house. Twelve dedicatory sessions were planned from August 22 through August 23, 2009. Local priesthood leaders distributed tickets for the dedication. The Sunday, August 23rd dedicatory sessions were broadcast through closed-circuit television to stake centers in the state. The temple opened for ordinance work after the dedication, on August 25th. The temple is the 130th operating temple in the world and the 13th in Utah.
The temple is a 60,000 square-foot edifice situated on a 12-acre plot in southwest Salt Lake Valley. Oquirrh (pronounced “oh-ker”) is a Goshute Indian word meaning... Read the rest of this article »
The Twin Falls Idaho Temple is the 128th announced temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On October 2, 2004, the First Presidency of the Mormon Church announced plans to build a temple in Twin Falls, Idaho. The 9.1-acre site for the temple is at Eastland Dr. North. The Church purchased the land formerly used for Candleridge Golf Course.
Twin Falls Mormon Temple 20 June 2007
With its completion, the temple is now the fourth Mormon temple in Idaho and will serve more than 50,000 members in 14 stakes.
On November 8, 2005, the Twin Falls Planning and Zoning Commission approved the permits needed to go forward with the building of the temple. A special permit was given which allows the temple to exceed the city’s 35-foot maximum height limit. The design for the temple was unveiled on October 6, 2005, at a press conference. The temple design is inspired by the nearby Shoshone Falls, and the temple comprises 27,850 square feet and is... Read the rest of this article »
Numerous colonies were set up in Arizona by the Mormons during the last half of the nineteenth century, and plans were being discussed for a temple in the area as early as 1908, but the start of World War I stopped plans for a while. Plans to build a temple in Mesa, Arizona, were finally announced on October 3, 1919. A 20-acre site was selected and purchased in 1921, and the site was dedicated shortly after on November 28, 1921. On April 25, 1922, the groundbreaking ceremony took place. President Heber J. Grant conducted the ceremony.
When construction was finished on the temple. The public was able to take tours through the temple. Two hundred thousand people were able to take a tour through the Mesa Temple. The temple was dedicated on October 23, 1927, by Heber J. Grant. By that afternoon, the temple was being put to use. Baptisms for the dead were performed, and the next morning endowments and sealings were preformed. The Mesa Arizona temple was the... Read the rest of this article »
The Fresno California Temple is the 78th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
California is home to over 740,000 members of the Mormon Church as well as four Mormon temples. The Mormon Church has had a long history in California, starting with members who sailed to San Francisco aboard the Brooklyn. When members of the U.S. Army unit known as the Mormon Battalion were discharged in San Diego, many stayed and helped build up the San Diego area. Members arrived in Fresno in 1907, and by 1920 a congregation, called a ward, was organized. The area continued to grow, and at the time of the Mormon temple dedication there were 28,000 members in the Fresno area.
Elder John B. Dickson, of the Seventy, conducted the groundbreaking ceremony in March of 1999. He commented upon the growth of the Mormon Church saying, “We now find ourselves on the threshold of unprecedented growth and expansion.” [1]
Before the Mormon temple was... Read the rest of this article »
The opening of a Manhattan, New York Mormon Temple was announced on August 7, 2002. A few months before on March 24, 2002, at a special regional conference in New York City President of the Mormon Church Gordon B. Hinckley told those in attendance that he expected a temple to be in the area in the next two years. The Church-wide announcement made on August 7th fulfilled this expectation. The need for a temple in the Manhattan area became apparent during the last decade, when Mormon membership tripled to more than 42,000 members.
A groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication were held on September 23, 2002. Construction began soon after. The Church had decided to adapt an existing building, which stands across from the Lincoln Center, owned by the Church, into the Temple. This was done because costs for land in the area were extremely high, and the leaders of the Church did not feel it was practical to buy land to build another structure. This was not... Read the rest of this article »
