Temple Site Possibilities: Utah Salt Lake City Area--Part Two: The Three Other Temples In This Area/Other Future Possibilities

Hello again, everyone! I am back with my second post about the Utah Salt Lake City Area, and will focus this post on the other three temples that serve the Saints within that area. That will include the history of those three, an exploration of the makeup of their current districts, and if, when, and where other new temples might be built to serve the Saints in this area.

So the second temple that was built to serve these Saints was the Jordan River Utah Temple. At the time of its' dedication (which was held between November 16-20, 1981; it is significant to me that this is the only temple of the Church that was originally dedicated by President Marion G. Romney), it became the Church's 20th in operation worldwide.

As we know, it has been closed for renovation since February 15 of last year, and has had its rededication set for May 20 of next year. While it may be too early to tell who might preside at this temple dedication, since this a Salt Lake Valley temple, I am anticipating high attendance from Church leadership.

That said, I had thought the same thing about every Utah temple dedication and rededication that has occurred for the last 3 years, and I always find out later that there weren't as many Church leaders in attendance as I was anticipating. So I am honestly not sure what to expect for this rededication.

When the temple is up and running again, it will continue to serve the Saints in the 66 stakes that comprise its district. There is a chance that this temple district could split at some point, but I am not at all sure if, when, and how that might occur.

I might venture Murray, Riverton, or Taylorsville as potential candidates, but if the Salt Lake district is split at any point, several stakes within this district may also be redistributed at surrounding temples.

That said, I would be interested in hearing any thoughts any of you have about the most likely prospect to effect such a split, and how soon you feel that might occur. Let me know in the comments below.

In addition to the Jordan River and Salt Lake Temples, Saints in the Utah Salt Lake City area are also served by two other temples: Draper and Oquirrh Mountain. I will start with the latter, since that is also located in South Jordan.

As most of you are aware, the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple was announced because of how busy the Jordan River Temple was. At the time of its dedication (which occurred between August 21-23, 2009, with President Thomas S. Monson, who celebrated his 82nd birthday on the first day of that dedication, presiding. That temple brought the number of those in operation to 130.

As for its district, it takes in 35 stakes from the Western Salt Lake Valley. Some have said that this district could be split as well. Because I have friends of my family who relocated a few years ago from Alpine in Utah County to Herriman in the Salt Lake Valley, I know from their reports that Herriman is growing speedily. For that reason, if and when another temple is built to divide this district, I feel confident Herriman will be selected for that honor.

Before moving on to Draper, the final temple in this area, I also wanted to note that President Gordon B. Hinckley announced in General Conference in April 2005 that the Church was holding land in reserve for a temple in the Southwestern part of Salt Lake Valley, and that an official announcement of its location would be made once a temple was needed there.

Some have contended that either the Draper or Oquirrh Mountain temples were likely the location to which President Hinckley referred, but since most sources I have available for such information still list that temple as only being publicly proposed, we know that an official announcement of that location is still pending.

That said, since many of the temples announced by President Monson were publicly proposed and/or referenced by President Hinckley, I feel we could see that location announced fairly soon, wherever it turns out to be.

I'd like to now conclude my discussion of the temple sites in this area by talking about the Draper Utah Temple, which was dedicated from March 20-22, 2009. President Monson presided at this event that gave the Church its' 129th operating temple.

The current composition of the Draper temple district is 29 stakes in the Southeastern Salt Lake Valley. If the Salt Lake Valley continues to grow, I could see a temple announced in the Sandy area, which would take stakes from this district, and also some other from the Jordan River district. Let me know your thoughts on that prospect in the comments below.

Sorry for the length of this post. That does it for the moment. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. 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.