SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — The Sunday, Aug. 13, dedication of the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple serves as the first splash of a wave of new-temple growth for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the state of Utah.
When it opens for temple worship and ordinance work later this week, the new house of the Lord in Saratoga Springs will be the 14th operating temple in Utah, with 14 more under construction, under renovation or awaiting dedication or rededication.
Barring anything unforeseen, all 14 should be completed and dedicated or rededicated within the next five years — most in less than half that time — giving Utah 28 operating temples.
That rapid growth of late of temples is not just limited to the state of Utah. Rather, it is representative both of what is going on worldwide as well as what has happened during President Russell M. Nelson’s tenure as President of the Church in less than six years.
When President Thomas S. Monson announced a temple for Saratoga Springs on April 2, 2017, the Church had 154 dedicated temples, 12 under construction and 11 announced.
Today, the Church currently has 315 total temples — dedicated, under construction or announced and in planning. The Saratoga Springs temple will be the 179th dedicated house of the Lord, with 59 more under construction or awaiting dedication or groundbreaking, and the remaining 77 in planning and design.
In his five and a half years as President of the Church since early 2018, President Nelson has announced 133 new temples, or 42 percent of the 315 total temples. Of those 133 temples announced, five are already dedicated, another five are scheduled for dedication, 44 are under construction and two are scheduled for pre-construction groundbreaking. And the Church’s 77 still in planning and design are all locations announced by President Nelson.
Sunday’s dedication of the Saratoga Springs temple — to be done by President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the Church’s First Presidency — is the first in Utah in nearly six years, since the Cedar City Utah Temple was dedicated in December 2017. That’s the longest period of time between Utah temple dedications since the 11-year span between the 1998 dedication of the Monticello Utah Temple and the 2009 dedications for the south Salt Lake Valley pair of the Draper Utah and Oquirrh Mountain Utah temples.
Utah’s houses of the Lord hold historic places among Latter-day Saint temples — with the state understandably home to the highest number of temples because Salt Lake City has been the site of the Church’s headquarters since the mid-1800s and some 2.17 million members live in Utah.
The St. George Utah Temple is the Church’s oldest and longest-operating, the Salt Lake Temple is the iconic landmark, the Ogden Utah Temple was the first to undergo not just a renovation but an extensive reconstruction (with the same planned for the Provo Utah Temple beginning early next year), and South Jordan became the first city to be home to a pair of temples — the Jordan River Utah and Oquirrh Mountain temples.
Utah temples under construction
The 10 Utah temples currently under construction were all announced by President Nelson. They are:
- Layton Utah Temple — announced April 1, 2018; groundbreaking ceremony held May 23, 2020.
- Red Cliffs Utah Temple — announced Oct. 7, 2018; groundbreaking held Nov. 7, 2020.
- Deseret Peak Utah Temple — announced April 7, 2019; groundbreaking held May 25, 2021.
- Orem Utah Temple — announced Oct. 5, 2019; groundbreaking held Sept. 5, 2020.
- Taylorsville Utah Temple — announced Oct. 5, 2019; groundbreaking held Oct. 31, 2020.
- Syracuse Utah Temple — announced April 5, 2020; groundbreaking held June 12, 2021.
- Lindon Utah Temple — announced Oct. 4, 2020; groundbreaking held April 23, 2022.
- Smithfield Utah Temple — announced April 4, 2021; groundbreaking held June 18, 2022.
- Ephraim Utah Temple — announced May 1, 2021; groundbreaking held Aug. 27, 2022.
- Heber Valley Utah Temple — announced Oct. 3, 2021; groundbreaking held Oct. 8, 2022.
Utah temples under renovation or announced for renovation
Three pioneer-era temples in Utah are under renovation, including the St. George temple that will be rededicated before the end of this year. A fourth temple — the first Provo temple — will undergo reconstruction after the first of next year.
The four are:
- Salt Lake Temple — renovation project announced April 19, 2019; temple closed Dec. 29, 2019; project completion date amended earlier this year for a projected 2026 finish.
- St. George Utah Temple — renovation project announced May 22, 2019; temple closed Nov. 4, 2019; a Dec. 10, 2023, rededication has been scheduled, with a public open house running Sept. 15 through Nov. 11.
- Manti Utah Temple — renovation announced May 1, 2021; temple closed Oct. 1, 2021; the renovations were projected to take at least two years to complete.
- Provo Utah Temple — reconstruction announced Oct. 3, 2021; temple scheduled to close Feb. 24, 2024.
A historical perspective for Utah temples
After the Church moved west from Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, the first temple dedicated was the St. George Temple in 1877, followed by the Logan (1884), Manti (1888) and Salt Lake Temple (1893), all before Utah statehood. Nearly 80 years would pass until two more temples were added in Utah — in 1972 in Ogden and Provo.
With the 10 temples currently under construction in Utah and all expected to be completed and dedicated within the next several years, the Church didn’t have 10 temples total in Utah until 1997, with the dedication of the tabernacle-turned-temple in Vernal. Getting from the first house of the Lord to the 10th in the Beehive State took 120 years.
Only 25 years will have passed from No. 11 to No. 18 — the Monticello temple in 1998 to the Saratoga Springs temple.
