The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released the site location for the Lethbridge Alberta Temple and an exterior rendering of the Austin Texas Temple.
Both the site and the rendering were announced Tuesday, Sept. 5, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Lethbridge Alberta Temple
The Lethbridge Alberta Temple — planned as a 45,000-square-foot, multistory house of the Lord — will be built on a site of 9-plus acres on the northwest corner of Whoop-Up Drive and Mauretania Road West in Lethbridge in the Canadian province of Alberta. A distribution center is projected for the site as well.
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Lethbridge just five months ago in April 2023 general conference. It will be the fourth house of the Lord in Alberta and the 10th in Canada.
Dedicated 100 years ago in August 1923, the Cardston Alberta Temple was the first in Canada and the Church’s sixth overall. It was the first temple constructed outside of the United States and its territories; the Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated in 1919, when the islands were a U.S. territory.
Other temples in the province are in Edmonton (dedicated in 1999) and Calgary (2012), with the others throughout Canada in Toronto (1990), Halifax (1999), Regina (1999), Montreal (2000), Vancouver (2010) and Winnipeg (2021). All are operating, with the Toronto Ontario Temple to close next month for renovations.
The gospel was first preached in Canada when Joseph Smith Sr., the father of the Prophet Joseph Smith, crossed the U.S. border and went to several towns in eastern Canada. Over the next two decades, some 2,500 Canadians were converted. Cardston was settled by Latter-day Saints in 1887.
Today, more than 200,000 Church members in nearly 500 congregations reside in Canada.
Austin Texas Temple
The exterior rendering of the Austin Texas Temple visually represents that house of the Lord according to initial details as announced when its site location was released in December 2022.
The Austin Texas Temple is to be built on a 10.6-acre site adjacent to an existing meetinghouse at 1801 E. Park St., Cedar Park, Texas. It is planned as a single-story temple of approximately 30,000 square feet. Cedar Park is a suburb northwest of Austin.
President Nelson announced a temple for Austin in April 2022 general conference. It will be one of eight temples in Texas — temples in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Lubbock are in operation, with the McAllen Texas Temple scheduled for dedication on Oct. 8. The Fort Worth Texas Temple is scheduled for an Oct. 28 groundbreaking, with an announced house of the Lord for Prosper joining Austin as the temples still in the planning stages.
More than 378,000 Latter-day Saints live in Texas, comprising more than 740 congregations.
