Hello again, everyone! Since I have time to do so tonight, I am back to talk about the current temples within the North America Northeast Area of the Church, and to share my thoughts about where future temples may be built within that same area. With 12 temples in operation in that area (one of which, the Washington D. C. Temple, will close to begin its renovation process on the same day the Jordan River Utah Temple is rededicated (May 20, 2018)), there are no temples announced or under construction within that area. As I begin this post, I have only one other candidate for a temple within that area, but if I see any promising prospects as I talk about the current temple district, I will add them to my list as I go. With that said, let's dive right in to the discussion of the temples in this area.
There are, as mentioned above, 12 temples in the North America Northeast Area. I will be listing them in alphabetical order, with the Canadian temples within that area listed first, and the US temples in that area after that. If any US state or Canadian territory or province has more than one temple, I will be grouping them together.
The three Canadian temples within the borders of this area are as follows: Halifax Nova Scotia, Montreal Quebec, and Toronto Ontario. The other nine temples within that area (that are in the US) are Boston Massachusetts, Columbus Ohio, Detroit Michigan, Hartford Connecticut, Indianapolis Indiana, Manhattan and Palmyra New York, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and Washington D. C. Which regions are covered within each of these districts, and how many stakes are covered within them? Let's talk next about that.
Again, beginning in Canada, we first turn our attention to the temple in Halifax Nova Scotia. That temple district covers one stake each in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and the three branches of the Church in Newfoundland. The Montreal Quebec Temple district takes in 4 stakes, 3 of which are in Montreal, with 1 other in Eastern Ontario. The Toronto Ontario Temple district is comprised of 8 stakes and 1 district in Ontario. As previously noted, the smaller Canadian temple districts seem to have Canada fairly well covered with its current temples.
Moving on now to the United States, the Boston Massachusetts Temple district is comprised of 12 stakes, with 5 of those in Massachusetts, 3 in New Hampshire, 2 in Maine, and 1 each in Rhode Island and Vermont.
Next is the Columbus Ohio Temple, which has in its district 16 stakes, 13 of which are in Ohio, with two from Western Pennsylvania (based in Pittsburgh), and 1 in the Southwestern region of West Virginia (Charleston).
The Detroit Michigan Temple district is comprised of 7 stakes and 1 district, all of which are located in Michigan. The Hartford Connecticut Temple district covers 5 stakes in total: 3 in Connecticut, 2 in Eastern New York, and 1 in Western Massachusetts. As for the Indianapolis Indiana Temple, that district covers 9 stakes, 8 in Indiana and 1 in Eastern Illinois.
Turning now to Manhattan New York, that temple district is comprised of 8 stakes in Downstate New York, and 4 in North Jersey. Just as the temple in Manhattan serves New York's Downstate region, the Upstate in New York is served by the Palmyra Temple, which serves 7 stakes and 1 district within that region.
Rounding out the US temples in this area are the Philadelphia Pennsylvania and Washington D. C. Temples. The Philly Temple district covers 7 stakes in Eastern Pennsylvania and two each in Central and South Jersey and Delaware, for a total of 11 stakes. As for Washington D. C., the temple named for the capital of the United States covers 23 stakes in Virginia, 8 in West Virginia, 8 others in Maryland, 3 in Pennsylvania and 2 in West Virginia.
Most of these temple districts seem very reasonably sized to me. I ran the mileage on some of them, and particularly for the smaller states in this area, there don't seem to be any inordinate distances for the members of the Church to travel in order to reach their assigned temple. That said, the one exception I have come up with is Virginia.
A while back on this blog, when I first started sharing my thoughts on future temple locations, I went back and forth for a while on a temple for Virginia, and many people suggested several excellent candidate cities for such a temple. But after doing the research on it, I agree with the many experts on temple matters with whom I have consulted: if and when Virginia does get a temple, the most likely location for it is Richmond.
I imagine that if a temple were built there, it could cover the needs of the Saints in Virginia and West Virginia, at minimum, which would slightly draw at least a few stakes from the surrounding temple districts. If Richmond does get a temple, then the North America Northeast Area may be well stocked with temples for the immediate future.
But that is merely my own opinion. Let me know your thoughts. Have I overlooked anything? Is it reasonable to assume that Richmond is likely to get a temple? I look forward to hearing from any of you that would like to share your opinion.
That does it for this post. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Temple Site Possibilities: North America Northeast Area
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
7 comments:
In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.
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I could see either Richmond or Norfolk VA.
ReplyDeleteTwo other temples I could see in this area are in either Cleveland OH or Pittsburg PA and a small temple in Augusta ME. Maine would be a far shot but would serve 2 stakes and reduce distance.
Thank you for this comment as well, Kenny. When I first started sharing my thoughts about the location of potential future temples, the location of one in Virginia was rigorously discussed among those who commented at that time. After further study on my part (which included asking several experts), Richmond emerged as the clear most likely location. If the Lord wants Virginia's first temple elsewhere, of course that will occur.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other prospects you mentioned, Cleveland is 141.6 miles away from its assigned temple in Columbus. If a temple were built in Pittsburgh, that would cut the distance of 184.9 miles that the Saints in Pittsburgh have to travel to reach Columbus.
As for Maine, since the two stakes within that state are 165.5 miles (for the Augusta stake) and 235.9 miles (for the Bangor stake) from their assigned temple, the case could be made for a temple in Augusta. At this point, I don't personally see that coming to fruition in the next 5-10 years or so, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, so anything is possible.
The main thing I keep going back and forth on is that there are several possibilities that could be feasible and useful for the Church, but how likely any of them might be is anyone's guess. That said, another difficulty I run into is in trying to figure out what each district for the temples on my list might look like. And that's a hard question to answer. There may be literally dozens of possible temple sites within the US and Canada alone, but if any one of them goes on to be announced before the others, there will be a need to subsequently adjust some of the surrounding temple districts. There are a lot of excellent locations, and we have seen many US temples dedicated just within the last couple of years alone, which has helped to trim some of these districts down to their current size. It is sometimes hard to know whether or not I should include certain locations on my list that others have suggested. That is why I have been doing these posts to analyze the composition of the current districts, and to explore the likely options. Refining my list is an ongoing process. I will take your suggestions under advisement and do more research on them as I can. Thanks again for your comment, Kenny!
It is all continually revolving. My daughter says to me. Why do you bother trying to guess where the next temple will be? Don't you know the prophet and the Lord will put them where they are needed even if they aren't on your list? I tell her, I know, it's just a fun and free hobby.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the guessing and researching.
Your daughter raises a fair point. When the Lord wants a temple in any location, it will be revealed to the prophet (or in our current circumstances, those he authorizes to represent him). That said, I see nothing wrong with analyzing the available data and patterns of the past to project what might be possible. I think of any predictions for General Conference like a weather forecast: Not everyone gets it right, but the fun is in using the patterns of the past to project what might be possible. Whether those possibilities come to fruition or not is anyone's guess, and that is up to the Lord. I hope I have made that clear enough in every post I have done on this subject. Thanks for this comment as well, Kenny.
DeleteThe Washington D.C. temple closes March 3rd.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking time to comment, Nathanial. I had been under the impression that the temple would close on Sunday March 4, which was verified by the sources I have available. Do you have a connection to that temple that points to the closure date being a day earlier than such sources have reported? I know that the Church has at times posted an incorrect date, as we saw with the Raleigh Temple (which will close on January 7, three days earlier than what had originally been reported, as also was true for the Baton Rouge Temple (February 1 was given as a placeholder, but the date has since been verified as January 28. So I don't doubt that the sources I have could have gotten it wrong. But at the same time, I have also heard that renovation closures are generally set to occur between Friday and Monday, so I can see the Church closing it on either date. But if the information I have is a day off, then I appreciate you letting me know.
DeleteNathanial, I was just rereading my response to your comment and I hope you didn't get the wrong impression, or feel that I was implying that you were incorrect about the March 3 closure. I have no personal knowledge that the March 4 closure I found in the sources available to me is accurate. A member tip posted in a comment on another post here alerted all of us that the Raleigh closure would be going into effect on January 7, three days earlier than was stated by the sources I have available. So if you tell me that the closure will be on March 3, and not the following day, I trust that you have the knowledge to back that up. The one problem with the information I share on this blog is that, unless someone comments to clarify or correct something I have said, I am relying on information I can pull from the sources I have available, which may or may not correspond to what will actually occur. To anyone reading this who sees me as an expert on temple matters, I want to set the record straight right now: I am not one. But between personal study I have done (which is ongoing) and the opinions of those I look to and recognize as the real experts on such things, I am confident enough in the information I find to support and share it unless and until it is proven inaccurate by either updated information in such sources or through communication with members in such areas that have first-hand knowledge. I do appreciate hearing from you, Nathanial, and hope I have not offended you, either with this comment, or my initial reply above.
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