An open house begins this week to tour the first temple in Kansas for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the Wichita Kansas Temple.
Public tours will run from Thursday, Sept. 24, through Saturday, Oct. 10, excluding Sundays and Saturday, Oct. 3, due to the Church’s general conference.
Members of the press are also visiting the temple during a media day this morning, with subsequent invited-guest tours planned for Sept. 22 and 23.
Two General Authority Seventies are leading news representatives through the temple on the Sept. 21 media day: Elder Karl D. Hirst, a member of the United States Central Area presidency, and Elder Jeremiah J. Morgan, an assistant executive director in the temple department.
As Monday’s media day began, the Church published interior and exterior photos of the Wichita temple on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
After the open house’s conclusion, Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Wichita temple on Sunday, Nov. 1.
The ceremony, to happen at 10 a.m. local time, will be broadcast to congregations throughout the temple district. It will be rebroadcast at 2 p.m. the same day as well.
The Wichita temple will be dedicated the same day as the San Luis Potosí Mexico Temple. They are currently scheduled to become the Church’s 228th and 229th operating temples.
Design and features
A single-story building of approximately 9,950 square feet, the Wichita temple has a structural steel frame clad in glass-fiber-reinforced concrete. It stands on a 6.4-acre site at 2550 W. Harborlight St. in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas.
Design motifs find inspiration from the Kansas landscape and artistic heritage, with depictions of rolling wheat fields, sunflowers and art deco elements. Hues of sage green, golden wheat, soft paprika and buttercream tie to the vast prairie and agricultural vistas of the state.
Motifs in the art glass include designs of wheat — a common crop grown in Kansas — and the wild native sunflower, the state flower. The glass uses warm vanilla, colonial blue, pink champagne, copper red and gold tones.
The temple’s primary stone is Crema Marfil marble. Millwork and interior doors are made of stained African mahogany and paint-grade poplar. Custom light fixtures use crystal, acrylic, satin brass and polished nickel elements, then crystal chandeliers and sconces also illuminate key spaces within the temple.
About the Wichita temple
Once dedicated, the Wichita temple will serve more than 14,500 Latter-day Saints in the region.
On April 3, 2022, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced the Wichita temple. It was one of 17 temple locations he identified at the conference, totaling 100 temples announced by the Church President to that time.
Ground was broken for the Wichita temple on Sept. 7. Elder Steven R. Bangerter — a General Authority Seventy and then the first counselor in the North America Central Area presidency — presided.
At the Wichita temple’s groundbreaking, Elder Bangerter pleaded in his dedicatory prayer on the site that “we may feel Thy Holy Spirit within our hearts as a manifestation of the divine mission of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we may each feel a new beginning with renewed commitment to live our lives according to His teachings and filled with His love.”
The Church in Kansas
Wichita’s house of the Lord is currently the only one announced for Kansas.
In 1882, the Meridian Branch was established on the border between the Dickinson and Saline counties. The first stake in Kansas was organized 80 years later, in June 1962, in Wichita.
The closest temple to Wichita is currently the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple, a drive of about 180 miles to the south.
Kansas has around 40,000 Latter-day Saints, who meet in 75 wards and branches.
Wichita Kansas Temple
Address: 2550 W. Harborlight St., Wichita, Kansas 67204
Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: Sept. 7, 2024, presided over by Elder Steven R. Bangerter, a General Authority Seventy
Public open house: Sept. 24 through Oct. 10, 2026, excluding Sundays
To be dedicated: Nov. 1, 2026, by Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Property size: 6.4 acres
Building size: 9,950 square feet
Building height: 97.5 feet (including the spire)
