First Presidency Announces Sites for New Orem, Taylorsville, and McAllen Temples
Contributed By Scott Taylor, Church News Managing Editor
Location of the McAllen Texas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as announced by the First Presidency on December 11, 2019.
Three new temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—the Orem Utah, Taylorsville Utah, and McAllen Texas temples, which were first announced less than 10 weeks ago—now have actual site locations, as identified by the First Presidency on Wednesday, December 11.
The initial information for the three temples, including locator maps, was published on Newsroom.
Orem Utah Temple
The Orem Utah Temple will be located on a 16-acre site at approximately 1471 South Geneva Road, just west of Interstate 15 and south of University Parkway. Plans include a three-story temple of about 70,000 square feet with a center spire; a meetinghouse is projected to be on the grounds as well.
Location of the Orem Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as announced by the First Presidency on December 11, 2019.
Taylorsville Utah Temple
The Taylorsville Utah Temple is set for a 7.5-acre site at 2603 West 4700 South in Taylorsville, with a three-story, 70,000-square-foot building and a center spire. The site is west of Interstate 215 and southwest of the belt route’s 4700 South exchange. An existing meetinghouse at the site will be removed and will not be replaced.
Location of the Taylorsville Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as announced by the First Presidency on December 11, 2019.
McAllen Texas Temple
The McAllen Texas Temple will be a single-story temple of approximately 25,000 square feet, also with a center spire, located on a 10.6-acre site on the northwest corner of 2nd Street and Trenton Road. An adjacent meetinghouse of more than 17,000 square feet is planned for the site as well.
Location of the McAllen Texas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as announced by the First Presidency on December 11, 2019.
More detailed design plans are still being developed, with exterior and interior renderings and groundbreaking dates to be released later.
The three temples were among the eight temples announced by President Russell M. Nelson during the women’s Saturday evening session of October 2019 general conference. The other temples announced then have been identified for Freetown, Sierra Leone; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Bentonville, Arkansas; Bacolod, Philippines; and Cobán, Guatemala.
Those eight are among the 35 new temples that President Nelson has announced in the past four general conferences during his tenure of less than two years as Church President.
The Orem and Taylorsville temples bring Utah’s total number of temples to 23, including 17 currently operating. Two of those will be undergoing extensive renovations—the St. George Utah Temple, which closed on November 4, and the Salt Lake Temple, which will close on December 29.
The state’s other four temples in various stages of development include the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple, which is under construction following its October 19 groundbreaking; the Layton Utah Temple, with its site announced on July 15 and its initial renderings made public on October 8; and the Tooele Valley and Washington County temples, which had their sites announced September 25 and November 6, respectively.
The Orem temple will be the sixth in Utah County, joining the Provo (1972), Mount Timpanogos (1996), Payson (2015), and Provo City Center (2016) temples and the aforementioned temple in Saratoga Springs.
The Taylorsville temple will be the fifth in the Salt Lake Valley, along with the Salt Lake (1893), Jordan River (1981), Draper (2009), and Oquirrh Mountain (2009) temples.
Church membership in Utah exceeds 2.1 million, comprising 596 stakes and 5,156 congregations.
Elder Glen D. Mella, an Area Seventy and Orem resident, called the announcement of plans to build an additional temple in Utah County a monumental blessing. “We are absolutely thrilled,” he said. “We’ve been blessed to have access to temples in this area with temples in Provo and American Fork, but with the new growth in Utah County, there continues to be an opportunity for another temple.”
And following October’s announcement of the new temples, Taylorsville Mayor Kristie Steadman Overson—whose family has lived in the community for generations—said she was “overjoyed and so excited” to learn a temple would one day operate in the city she has called home almost her entire life.
With the October temple announcements, McAllen Texas Stake President J. Romeo Villarreal was especially mindful of the impact of a new temple with new Church members. “There is absolutely no doubt that for a new convert to be involved in temple and family history work, especially in visiting the temple [will be an] enormous strengthening factor for them staying active,” he said, adding that “it is going to solidify the testimony of so many.”
Texas is home to more than 357,000 members residing in 75 stakes and 698 congregations, as well as eight missions. The McAllen temple will be the Lone Star State’s fifth, with operating temples in Dallas (1984), Houston (2000), Lubbock (2002), and San Antonio (2005).
