A ceremony marking the start of construction on the Vernal Utah Temple will be held Saturday, May 13, at 9 a.m., the First Presidency announced.
President Gordon B. Hinckley is expected to preside at the event.The ceremony was announced in a recent letter to priesthood leaders in the 12 stakes in the Vernal Utah Temple District. The temple will serve some 36,000 members in eastern Utah, northwestern Colorado and southwestern Wyoming.
In the construction of a temple within the 88-year-old Uintah Stake Tabernacle structure, the exterior will remain essentially the same. The interior, however, will be completely remodeled to accommodate the needs of a temple. The completed temple will comprise some 29,000 square feet.
Upon completion of construction, a public open house will be scheduled. After that, the temple will be formally dedicated.
About 18,000 people toured the tabernacle in an open house from April 28-May 2, 1994. Some 1,000 volunteers assisted in the effort.
The temple was announced in a letter read in sacrament meetings in the local regions on Feb. 13, 1994. In the letter, the First Presidency said that "after extensive study, we have concluded to use the shell of the building, restoring its original outside appearance, and creating within it, a beautiful temple."
The Vernal temple will be Utah's 10th temple. The Church presently has 47 operating temples with 13 announced or under construction.
Construction has begun on the Mount Timpanogos temple in American Fork, Utah; and on temples in St. Louis, Mo.; Hong Kong; Preston, England; and Bogota, Colombia. Temples announced and awaiting groundbreaking include the Madrid Spain, Santo Domingo Dominican Republic, Guayaquil Ecuador, Hartford Connecticut, Nashville Tennessee, Recife Brazil and Cochabamba Bolivia temples.
