Louisville Kentucky Temple
The Louisville Kentucky Temple is the 76th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Most of the early members in Kentucky, when the Church of Jesus Christ was still young, went west with the body of the Saints and the Church had little growth in the state until after World War II. Since then membership has grown and in 2000 there were 23,000 members, enough to have a Latter-day Saint temple built in the state. Membership in the state numbers more than 37,000 at the end of 2023.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Louisville Kentucky Temple was held on the same day as the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Adelaide Australia Temple and Veracruz Mexico Temple.
Elder John K. Carmack of the Seventy and president of the North America East Area presided over the groundbreaking services on 29 May 1999.
President Thomas S. Monson, of the First Presidency of the Church, dedicated the Louisville Kentucky Temple on 19 March 2000. The dedication was held after a week-long open house where the public was invited to tour the sacred building and learn more about the eternal purpose of Latter-day Saint temples.
During the dedicatory prayer President Monson, referring to the temple, said, "May it be a house of peace, a house of worship, a house of faith, and a house of prayer. May the ordinances performed herein, eternal in their nature, affect for everlasting good the lives of all who participate, whether they be working in their own behalf, or in behalf of the dead. May all who enter the portals of this house do so with clean hands and pure hearts, having left behind the stress and the worries of the world, to come within these walls and here experience the quiet beauty of Thy Holy Spirit." [1]
The Louisville Kentucky Temple has the same design as the other small temples being built around the world. The exterior is made of white marble quarried in Vermont and has a single-spire topped with a gold statue of the angel Moroni. It has a total floor area of 10,700 square feet, two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.
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Notes
- "Dedicatory prayer excerpt: 'Bless the youth in this temple district,'" Church News 25 Mar. 2000, 25 Jun. 2005
