Cleveland, OH
Church News
Announcement of the Cleveland Ohio Temple
President Russell M. Nelson, 17th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced the Cleveland Ohio Temple on April 3, 2022, during the Sunday afternoon session of April 2022 general conference. This will be the second operating temple in the Buckeye State, along with a temple in Columbus.
To many in Ohio, the Church Presidentâs announcement of a house of the Lord in Cleveland was an answer to prayers. Seventy-year-old Walt Flory of Canton, Ohio, fought emotion as he reflected on his feelings for a new temple. He said he asked his 97-year-old mother if she ever anticipated a sacred edifice closer to home.
Flory related, âShe said no. It was something that did not seem possible. We are excited beyond words.â
The Church began in Ohio in 1830 when Parley P. Pratt, a convert of one month and later an apostle, began a mission there among Native Americans. For a time in the mid-1830s, the Church was headquartered in Kirtland, Ohio, where the first temple of the Restoration was dedicated in 1836. Two years later, persecution forced them to abandon Ohio â and their beloved temple â and gather to Missouri.
Today, there are approximately 63,814 Latter-day Saints in the Buckeye State in 125 congregations.
Architecture and Design of the Cleveland Ohio Temple
According to site plans released by the Church on Dec. 19, 2022, the Cleveland Ohio Temple will be a single-story building of approximately 9,900 square feet. The sacred edifice will be constructed at Brecksville Road, south of Longano Drive, in the suburb of Independence.
Architectural renderings of a temple in Cleveland, Ohio, show an off-white exterior surrounded by vertical, rectangular windows. A green, domed cupola with eight arched, stained-glass windows stands above the center of the building. Tall trees, shrubs and flower gardens adorn the grounds.