Jordan River Utah Temple

*Jordan River Utah Temple*
Jordan River Utah Temple
Dedicated	November 16, 1981 by ; Marion G. Romney
Site	15 acres (6.1 hectares)
Floor area	148,236 sq ft (13,772 m2)
Height	219 ft (67 m)
Preceded by	Seattle Washington Temple
Followed by	Atlanta Georgia Temple
Official website • News & images
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Announced	February 3, 1978
Groundbreaking	June 9, 1979 by ; Spencer W. Kimball
Open House	September 29 – October 31, 1981 (original); March 17 – April 28, 2018 (after renovations)
Rededicated	May 20, 2018 by ; Henry B. Eyring
Designed by	Emil B. Fetzer
Location	10200 S 1300 W; South Jordan, Utah 84095-8814; United States
Exterior finish	Cast stone with white marble chips, tower is cemlite
Ordinance rooms	6 (Movie, stationary sessions)
Sealing rooms	17
Clothing rental	Yes
Cafeteria	Full
Visitors' center	No

Coordinates: 40°33′58.08600″N 111°55′53.51520″W / 40.5661350000°N 111.9315320000°W / 40.5661350000; -111.9315320000

The Jordan River Utah Temple (formerly the Jordan River Temple) is the 20th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in South Jordan, Utah, it was built with a modern single-spire design.

A site dedication and groundbreaking ceremony were held on June 9, 1979. The ceremony and dedication were presided over by church president Spencer W. Kimball. Instead of the usual small ceremonial shovel-full of dirt at the groundbreaking, Kimball used a large power scoop shovel to begin the building process. The temple was open to the public for tours September 29 through October 31, 1981. Over half a million people toured the temple during its open house.

On August 7, 2015, the church announced that beginning February 15, 2016, the temple would close for renovations that were anticipated to be completed during the latter part of 2017.^[1] A public open house was held from March 17 through April 28, 2018, excluding Sundays and two Saturdays associated with the church's general conference.^[2] The temple was rededicated by Henry B. Eyring on May 20, 2018.^[3]

Dedication[]

Jordan River Temple at night.

Marion G. Romney, a member of the church's First Presidency, dedicated the Jordan River Temple in fifteen sessions held during November 16–20, 1981. More than 160,000 members attended the dedicatory services. Thirty of those in attendance at the dedication were elderly men and women who had been at the historic dedication of the first temple in the Salt Lake Valley, the Salt Lake Temple. Most had been very young at the time but still remembered the event. The temple serves Latter-day Saints in Southern Salt Lake County, Utah. Geographically, it is the smallest Latter-day Saint temple district in the world, but the temple is one of the church's busiest.^{[citation needed]}

Features[]

The temple is the fourth largest Latter-day Saint temple (but second-largest in Utah) and has a total of 148,236 square feet (13,771.6 m²), six ordinance rooms, and seventeen sealing rooms. The temple also has the largest capacity, with each ordinance room able to accommodate 125 people. The temple site is 15 acres (61,000 m²). The exterior of the temple is finished with cast stone with white marble chips. Unlike many of the temples, which are built mostly with tithing funds, the Jordan River Temple site was given to the church and all of its construction was paid for by members in the 134 stakes within the temple district. At the time, payment from local building funds was the established practice in the church, but was later abandoned in order to respond to the church's need for temples and church buildings in developing areas of the world.