Wichita Kansas Temple

The Wichita Kansas Temple was among those announced by President Russell M. Nelson during the April 2022 General Conference. This will be the state’s first temple.[1]

There are more than 38,000 Latter-day Saints in about 75 congregations in Kansas, a state located near the center of the United States. Wichita is the most populous city in the state. Missionaries first taught the native Shawnee and Delaware people in the Kansas area in 1831.

For those Church members emigrating from Europe during the mid-1880s, the Atchison, Kansas area became a layover site on the journey up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in 1855. A camp called Mormon Grove was established and more than 100 acres were cultivated and crops planted for future immigrants. The camp only lasted one summer, but fulfilled its purpose. In 1882, missionaries arrived in Kansas and organized the Meridian Branch (a small congregation) on the border between Dickinson and Saline counties. Missionaries left Kansas temporarily after mob threats, but again preached in Kansas in 1887.[2]

Location

The Wichita Kansas Temple is currently in the planning stages. No location has been announced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.