Vernal Utah Temple
thumb | Vernal Temple The Vernal Utah Temple is the 51st operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On February 13, 1994, the First Presidency of the Mormon Church announced that a Mormon temple would be built in Vernal, Utah. The Vernal Temple is the 10th temple in Utah.
A groundbreaking ceremony and sited dedication were held on May 13, 1995. President of the Mormon Church, Gordon B. Hinckley presided at the meeting and gave the dedicatory prayer.
The Vernal Utah Temple is unique, because it was the first temple to be built from an existing structure. The temple was adapted from the Uintah Stake tabernacle building. The original building was built from 1899 to 1907. The foundation was made of sandstone and the walls were made of brick fired from local clay. The building was built mostly by volunteers. President of the Mormon Church at the time, Joseph F. Smith dedicated the tabernacle on August 24, 1907. In 1948 a stake center was built near the tabernacle and the tabernacle was only used irregularly. In 1984 the Mormon Church closed the tabernacle. The Church decided in 1989 to turn the building into a temple but the plans were not announced until 1994. The exterior was preserved, the floor plan was altered to make it more conducive to temple use, one of the spires was made taller and an angel Moroni was placed on top of the spire.
An open house was held to allow the public to take tours of the interior of the temple October 11th through the 25th 1997. More than 120,000 people toured the temple during the open house.
Gordon B. Hinckley officially dedicated the Vernal Mormon temple on November 2-4, 1997. The Vernal temple serves 36,000 Mormon members in 12 stakes in eastern Utah, western Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming.
The Vernal Utah Temple has a total of 38,771 square feet, two ordinance rooms, and three sealing rooms.
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Temples in Utah
- Bountiful Utah Temple
- Brigham City Utah Temple
- Cedar City Utah Temple
- Deseret Peak Utah Temple
- Draper Utah Temple
- Ephraim Utah Temple
- Heber Valley Utah Temple
- Jordan River Utah Temple
- Layton Utah Temple
- Lehi Utah Temple
- Lindon Utah Temple
- Logan Utah Temple
- Manti Utah Temple
- Monticello Utah Temple
- Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple
- Ogden Utah Temple
- Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple
- Orem Utah Temple
- Payson Utah Temple
- Price Utah Temple
- Provo City Center Temple
- Provo Utah Rock Canyon Temple
- Red Cliffs Utah Temple
- Salt Lake Temple
- Saratoga Springs Utah Temple
- Smithfield Utah Temple
- St. George Utah Temple
- Syracuse Utah Temple
- Taylorsville Utah Temple
- Vernal Utah Temple
- West Jordan Utah Temple
