Ground has been broken in Mason for the Cincinnati Ohio Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the temple entered its construction phase after a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 7, the Church News reported.
Elder Alan T. Phillips, a General Authority Seventy and a member of the United States Northeast Area presidency, presided over the event and offered the dedicatory prayer on the site and construction process, according to the Church News. Local Latter-day Saints, faith and government leaders, and community members attended the ceremony in Mason, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Cincinnati.
“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,” Elder Phillips said in comments reported by the Church News. He added, in the same reporting: “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.”
The Cincinnati temple will be a single-story building of approximately 29,630 square feet, built on a 35-acre site southwest of the intersection of Mason-Montgomery Road and Cedar Village Drive in Mason, the Church News reported. It was announced on April 7, 2024, by then-Church President Russell M. Nelson at the Church’s April 2024 general conference, one of 15 temples announced that day.
When 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, according to the Church News. That makes it the state’s third operating temple.
Ohio has deep roots in the faith’s history. Missionary work began in Ohio in October 1830, Kirtland served as Church headquarters from 1831 to 1838, and the first stake was created there in 1834, the Church News reported. Today, Ohio is home to around 66,000 Latter-day Saints across more than 130 wards and branches.
Elder Phillips drew on that history at the groundbreaking, noting that priesthood keys were restored in the Kirtland Temple in 1836 and commending the pioneer members who, in his words reported by the Church News, “laid a foundation of faith upon which we now build.” Construction now proceeds on the Mason site; the Church does not set a dedication date until a temple nears completion.
Photo: The Columbus Ohio Temple, Ohio’s first temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the new Cincinnati temple in Mason will be the state’s third. Photo: JonRidinger, CC BY-SA