The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced a June 1 groundbreaking date for the Cleveland Ohio Temple.
Elder Vaiangina Sikahema, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Church’s North America Northeast Area presidency, will preside at the groundbreaking ceremony. Attendance at the site will be by invitation, with additional details on the event to be released as the groundbreaking date draws closer.
The groundbreaking date was first published Monday, April 15, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
It will be one of two temple groundbreakings Saturday, June 1. Elder Ricardo P. Giménez, a General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the North America Central Area presidency, will preside at the groundbreaking of the Teton River Idaho Temple, the second house of the Lord in Rexburg, Idaho, on the same day.
The update was part of the Church’s full day of temple news. Monday started with the media day for the Layton Utah Temple and the release of a video and interior and exterior photos of that house of the Lord. Later in the afternoon, along with the groundbreaking date for the Cleveland temple, the Church also announced open house and dedication dates for the the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple and the Mendoza Argentina Temple as well as the site location for the planned Kananga Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple.
President Russell M. Nelson announced a house of the Lord for Cleveland, Ohio, in April 2022 general conference, one of 17 new locations he identified on April 3, 2022. The site for the Cleveland temple was released on Dec. 19, 2022, with an exterior rendering first published on July 25, 2023.
Projected to be a single-story building of approximately 9,900 square feet, the Cleveland Ohio Temple will be built at Brecksville Road, south of Longano Drive, in Independence, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
Ohio is home to more than 64,500 Church members in more than 125 congregations. The temple in Cleveland will be the state’s second operating temple; the Columbus Ohio Temple was rededicated on June 4, 2023, by the late President M. Russell Ballard, then acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. A third house of the Lord for Ohio was announced for Cincinnati just eight days ago — on April 7 — at the conclusion of the April 2024 general conference.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built its first temple in Kirtland, Ohio; the building was recently acquired from Community of Christ and will remain as a historic building and not be used as an operating house of the Lord. Cleveland is on the southern shore of Lake Erie in the U.S. Great Lakes region, about 20 miles from Kirtland.