Taylorsville Utah Temple groundbreaking signals ‘special’ era of Latter-day Saint temple building

Elder Gerrit W. Gong, a member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, left, watches as Hannah Rupp and her father, Mark Rupp, turn soil during the groundbreaking of the Taylorsville Utah Temple in Taylorsville on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Church now has nearly 70 temples in design, development or construction phases, Elder Dean M. Davies says

The ambitious global temple-building effort undertaken by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints strode forward again Saturday as church leaders broke ground on the Taylorsville Utah Temple along I-215 in the western Salt Lake Valley.

The church has 168 temples in operation but 35 more will be under construction by the end of the year, including Taylorsville. More than 30 additional announced temples already are in design and development prior to actual construction, said Elder Dean M. Davies, a General Authority Seventy who recently left the Presiding Bishopric, which oversees temple building.

“It’s a special time to gather Israel on both sides of the veil,” said Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Gong presided Saturday over the groundbreaking and said the dedicatory prayer on the site three weeks after he and his wife, Sister Susan Gong, recovered from COVID-19 infections.

“We’re doing wonderfully,” he said. “We’ve been so grateful for the many thoughts and prayers on our behalf by so many. ... We’re completely recovered, according to our doctors, and grateful for that, and have all the certifications from the health offices and medical experts that say it’s OK to be back in the wild, and so we’re glad to be out in public again.”

The Gongs have a special connection to the Taylorsville temple site, 2603 W. 4700 South. Sister Gong’s father was bishop of the local Latter-day Saint ward when a chapel opened on the site. That chapel was razed earlier this year to make room for the temple, which will be a three-story building with approximately 70,000 square feet and a central spire.

“It’s a very special blessing to participate in any temple groundbreaking and site dedication,” Elder Gong said. “All of us feel connected in each of those, but for us here particularly with the multiple generations in our own family, it is a special privilege. ... Our father and grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all had served as bishops here in Taylorsville. So many of those that we love have been associated here over many generations, so it’s a very special blessing.”

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the groundbreaking ceremony was private. About 25 people attended the event by invitation, wearing masks and sitting in upholstered folding chairs spread far apart in an open field under a cloudless but hazy blue sky on a cool morning. Neighbors from the homes on the temple’s southern border peered over a cinderblock wall to watch and listen to the ceremony.

At times, the speakers competed with the drone of airplanes passing overhead on approach to Salt Lake International City Airport and cars and trucks driving by on I-215 or the on-ramp that directly abuts the temple site.

Speakers stood at a wood podium placed in the field and sat on the upholstered wooden chairs in front of a few dozen potted plants and small trees brought to the field for the ceremony.

Taylorsville Mayor Kristie Overson said she was “rocked and shocked” when she learned a temple was coming to her city, an announcement she said “sent a lightning bolt through our community.”

“It’s a dream come true. This location is incredible,” she said. “The access is unbelievable with I-215. It will be seen citywide and valleywide.”

In his site dedication prayer, Elder Gong mentioned the settlement of the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, when Joseph and Susanna Harker, of England, crossed the Jordan River in 1848 to establish a fort and a home right in the valley’s center.

“Gathered in these times in-person and via technology, we acknowledge and rejoice with faithful generations, including in historic over-Jordan communities who have, here at its heart, made this valley home,” Elder Gong said.

The Harkers’ great-great-great grandson, Max Harker, 17, spoke at the groundbreaking and related how they gave up their home, their country and lost two children traveling to Utah. He encouraged those in attendance and those who will watch video of the ceremony to engage in family history and temple work.

“I am thrilled for a temple to be built here in Taylorsville,” he said. “I’m excited to continue the legacy of Joseph Harker.”

Among the two dozen invited to attend were West Valley City’s Hannah Rupp, 8, who earlier this year had what her father Mark called a Zoom-COVID baptism, with 15 people in attendance and 35 families online, and Murray’s Hailey Bowen, 9. The girls helped turn over shovelfuls of dirt to symbolize the start of construction and said they enjoyed meeting Elder Gong.

Also on hand were 83-year-old Hazel Weight and Sister Gong’s mother, 91-year-old, Marion B. Lindsay, both longtime area residents.

“I thought it was a tender thing,” Elder Gong said afterward, “that we have an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old and an 80-year-old and a 90-year-old here who span the generations. We have a six-generation member of the Harker family. We have those who represent all the different cultures and languages in this community. This is a great community and it represents such a wonderful part of the church.”

In his site dedication, he prayed that the temple would radiate as a blessing to the community, which was named for John Taylor, the third president and prophet of the church.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

A rendering of the Taylorsville Utah Temple. The groundbreaking for the temple was held Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020.

“It’s a wonderful day to have that whole spectrum of all of us who are here,” he said, “one in heart, one in mind, part of the household of faith, and our neighbors, good citizens, here together. A temple is a blessing in a community for all of its citizens.”

The Taylorsville Temple is expected to be completed by 2023, Elder Davies said. It will be the fifth in the Salt Lake Valley, sitting about halfway between the Salt Lake Temple and Jordan River Temple. It will become one of 25 temples in Utah.

The Taylorsville temple marks the 10th of 21 groundbreakings in 2020. The previous nine were for the Alabang Philippines, Richmond Virginia, Layton Utah, Auckland New Zealand, Feather River California, Orem Utah, San Pedro Sula Honduras, Brasília Brazil and Moses Lake Washington temples.

The church has scheduled groundbreakings for eight temples in November — the Bentonville Arkansas Temple, Antofagasta Chile Temple, Salta Argentina Temple, Red Cliffs Utah Temple, Coban Guatemala Temple, Davao Philippines Temple, Mendoza Argentina Temple and McAllen Texas Temple.

Three more are planned in December for the Harare Zimbabwe Temple, Bengaluru India Temple and Okinawa Japan Temple.

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