Church leaders reflect on the state’s Latter-day Saint history
An open house for the newly completed Cleveland Ohio Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is underway in an area of the United States rich in Church history. The new house of the Lord is located a short distance from the Church’s first temple in the city of Kirtland.
The media was invited to tour the temple in Cleveland on Monday, June 15, 2026. Private tours for invited guests will be held on June 16 and 17. The public open house runs from June 18 through July 3, 2026, excluding Sundays. No tickets are needed.
“Many members describe the temple as a place of refuge, a place where they can step away from the distractions of daily life and feel God’s love, guidance and peace,” said Elder Mathias Held, a General Authority Seventy, who works with the Temple Department.
Downloadable Temple B-roll, Media Day B-Roll, and SOTs
“There’s just an outpouring of God’s power that flows from the temple that blesses the community,” said Nathan L. Johnson, an Area Seventy.
“There are so many sincere followers of Jesus Christ here,” Elder Johnson said. “President Nelson promised us that every sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find Him in the temple, and we hope that many will be able to feel something as they come to the Lord’s house.”
“They’re going to see, first of all, a beautiful building. But I think what’s more important is when they enter the building, they are going to feel a spirit that they’ve maybe not felt before,” said Robin Laubaugh, Cleveland temple event coordinator and the mayor of Wadsworth. “Our closest temple is in Columbus or in Pittsburgh. And so that’s quite a drive for us. And so, for me personally, I’ll be able to frequent it much more on a much more frequent basis.”
“We are Christians. Come out and see what our faith is about, and just see our spirit. We’re welcoming. You know us as your neighbor. Now come see us by our faith,” said Aqueelah Jordan, a Latter-day Saint, who is also the chief assistant prosecutor for the city of Cleveland.
“So, for my family, we talk about temples all the time, and my kids cannot wait to actually come inside the gates of the temple,” Jordan said.
“The crowning ordinances of the house of the Lord are to be able to seal families together for eternity. Cleveland is an area where family is important,” Elder Johnson explained. “It’s one of the most joyous messages that the world can hear.”
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the dedication of the Cleveland Ohio Temple on Sunday, August 16, 2026, at 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The dedicatory session will be broadcast to all units in the Cleveland Ohio Temple district, with a rebroadcast at 2 p.m.
The Church of Jesus Christ now has 385 temples in operation, under construction or announced worldwide.
Saints in Ohio
“The Kirtland Temple is a symbol of sacrifice. They literally built it in their extreme poverty, but did it in such a humble and united way,” said Elder Kyle S. McKay, Church Historian and Recorder.
Elder McKay said the temple in Kirtland was built of stone and adobe, with the Saints’ broken china to “give it a sheen.”
“It was not Solomon’s Temple by any stretch of the imagination, but the Lord accepted it because it was their best,” he said.
Today, the Kirtland Temple is one of the Church’s historic sites, with daily tours offered to the public.
“Kirtland represents a little bit of a promise and a beginning, and I think Cleveland can represent a fulfillment of that promise or a continuation of that hope and promise,” said Elder McKay.
Additionally, Elder McKay noted, the Kirtland Temple was a key site in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. On the same day in 1836, Jesus and other heavenly messengers visited the temple.
“More was restored on April 3, 1836, than on any other day,” Elder McKay said.
The details of that sacred day are found in Doctrine and Covenants 110.
Church Organization
Latter-day Saints gathered in northern Ohio in the 1830s, making Kirtland the Church’s headquarters.
“This period in Kirtland was a time in which the Church was being organized. The First Presidency was called here. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles [was] called here. The First Quorums of the Seventy were called here,” said Pace Clarke, Ohio historic sites manager of the Church History Department.
“The first stake was organized here in Kirtland. The first bishops were called right here in Kirtland, and we still have all those offices and priesthood offices in the Church today,” Clarke said.
About the Cleveland Ohio Temple
President Russell M. Nelson announced the Cleveland Ohio Temple in April 2022. Ground was broken in June 2024.
The Cleveland Temple is constructed with a steel frame clad in glass-fiber-reinforced concrete. It is 9,950 square feet and is located on about 11 acres in the Independence area.
The temple’s design motifs were inspired by Cleveland’s rich architectural heritage, incorporating elements found in the city’s historic buildings. The white trillium, Ohio’s state wildflower, is a central design element. A color palette of blue, green, red, coral, and gold reflects the Lake Erie hillside at sunrise and the vibrant buildings along East 4th Street.
Ohio is home to nearly 66,000 Latter-day Saints in over 130 congregations. The Cleveland Ohio Temple will be the second dedicated house of the Lord in the state. The Columbus Ohio Temple was dedicated in 1999, and the Cincinnati Ohio Temple was announced in April 2024.
Latter-day Saints consider each temple a house of the Lord and the most sacred place of worship on earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ to participate in sacred ceremonies that allow families to be united forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.
