The First Presidency has announced an Aug. 29 groundbreaking date for the Coeur d’Alene Idaho Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Presiding over the ceremony will be Elder Hutch U. Fale, a General Authority Seventy who will then be serving as a member of the United States West Area presidency.
This groundbreaking date was published Monday, July 6, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
On Oct. 6, 2024, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced a house of the Lord for Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. It was one of 17 temples he announced in October 2024 general conference.
The Coeur d’Alene temple will be a single-story edifice of approximately 29,630 square feet, built on a 10.9-acre site at the corner of Hanley Avenue and Coeur Terre Boulevard. A meetinghouse and accompanying ancillary building are also anticipated for the grounds.
This will be the first house of the Lord in northern Idaho, one of 11 in various stages in the state.
The Church in Idaho
Idaho is home to 11 houses of the Lord in various stages of operation, construction and planning.
Seven of those temples are operating: Idaho Falls, Boise, Rexburg, Twin Falls, Meridian, Pocatello and Burley.
The Montpelier Idaho Temple will be soon to follow, with an Oct. 18 dedication date set. The Teton River Idaho Temple, to be Rexburg’s second house of the Lord, has been under construction since June 2024.
In addition to the Coeur d’Alene temple, the Caldwell Idaho Temple — announced April 2025 — is in planning stages.
In 1855, early pioneers of the Church first settled in Idaho at Fort Lemhi, then part of the Oregon Territory. Fourteen years later, the Bear Lake Stake — Idaho’s first — was organized in 1869.
Church presidents Harold B. Lee, Ezra Taft Benson and Howard W. Hunter were born in Idaho. Current Church President Dallin H. Oaks also lived in Twin Falls, Idaho, for about five years as a child, and earlier this year he dedicated the Burley temple.
Today, more than 482,000 Latter-day Saints meet in over 1,300 wards and branches in Idaho.
