Nearly three months after Ohio’s second operating temple was dedicated, ground has been broken for a third.
The Cincinnati Ohio Temple — located in Mason, Ohio — entered its construction phase after a Saturday, Nov. 7, groundbreaking ceremony.
Elder Alan T. Phillips, a General Authority Seventy, presided over the event and offered the dedicatory prayer on the site and construction process. He serves as a member of the United States Northeast Area presidency for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“May this house of the Lord be a light to this city, pointing all who see it to Jesus Christ, the Light of the World,” said Elder Phillips.
Photos and information of the livestreamed groundbreaking were published Nov. 7 on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Elder Phillips noted that it was in Ohio where priesthood keys were restored in the Kirtland Temple in 1836 to seal families together for eternity. “We are humbled that blessings first restored in this state will now be available in a holy house in Cincinnati.”
He also commended the pioneer members of the Church who made the groundbreaking possible. “We honor those who have gone before us: the early Saints of Ohio, who sacrificed so much, and the faithful members of these stakes who have traveled many miles to worship. They have laid a foundation of faith upon which we now build.”
Cincinnati was “a bridge to freedom” as a key crossing point on the Underground Railroad, said Elder Phillips. “Many crossed that river from bondage into freedom. A temple is a bridge too, a bridge between heaven and earth.”
Elder Phillips bore witness of God’s love and the divine destiny of His children. “Heavenly Father loves His children. He loves you, the faithful Saints of the greater Cincinnati area.”
He added: “You are seen. You are known. You are loved. You are His work and His glory.”
In his dedicatory prayer on the site, Elder Phillips asked Heavenly Father to hallow and protect the site as “a place of holiness and great spiritual power.”
“Once built, may this house of the Lord be a beacon of light to this city, a place to worship, a place to learn, a place to receive Thy power.”
About the Cincinnati temple, Church in Ohio
As previously announced, the Cincinnati temple will be a single-story building of approximately 29,630 square feet. The sacred edifice will be built on a 35-acre site southwest of the intersection of Mason-Montgomery Road and Cedar Village Drive, Mason, Ohio — a suburban area about 20 miles northeast of downtown Cincinnati.
On April 7, 2024, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Cincinnati. It was one of 15 temples he announced in the April 2024 general conference.
After it’s built and dedicated, the Cincinnati temple will join two other operating temples in Ohio — the Columbus temple, dedicated in September 1999, and the Cleveland temple, dedicated in August 2026.
Missionary work began in Ohio in October 1830, just six months after the restored Church was established. Kirtland, Ohio, served as Church headquarters from 1831 to 1838. The first stake of the Church was created there in 1834. Sixty-five of the revelations published in the Doctrine and Covenants were received in the state.
Ohio saw great strides in structuring the Church. The First Presidency was organized in Kirtland in March 1832, followed by the Kirtland high council in February 1834, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in February 1835 and the First Council of the Seventy also in February 1835.
After tensions rose in the community, Church members left Kirtland in 1838 to gather with other Saints in Missouri. Community of Christ preserved the Kirtland Temple, then stewardship was transferred to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in March 2024.
Today, Ohio is home to around 66,000 Latter-day Saints across more than 130 wards and branches.
