Template:Featured Temple
On 4 October 2008, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced that it would build a new temple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The temple was originally scheduled to be located on the east side of the 400 block of North Broad Street, between Noble and Hamilton Streets in downtown Philadelphia. However, per Robert B. Smith, a Church leader in Philadelphia, "the church encountered "contamination" problems with that site, prohibiting it from using the entire parcel to construct two buildings." The Church was able to acquire new property located between 17th and 18th Streets, on the north side of Vine Street, east of the Old Family Courthouse and near the Central Library of the Philadelphia Free Library and the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.
Significant Events in Church History in Philadelphia
Two years prior to the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830, Church President, Joseph Smith, moved to Harmony, Pennsylvania, and lived in the home of Isaac Hale, his father-in-law. After a few weeks, he moved to a cabin adjacent to the farm. It was in this cabin where Joseph Smith translated most of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ - a companion volume of scripture to the Bible. Joseph and the first members of the Church were baptized in the Susquehanna River in May 1829. A total of 12 congregations were organized in Pennsylvania in the 1830s, prior to the gatherings of Saints to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. One prominent congregation in Philadelphia had more than 200 members before 1840 and eight to ten new members were baptized weekly. Membership fell following the migration of the Saints to the Salt Lake Valley but grew again as Mormon European emigrants arrived. The first stake was organized in 1960 with 1,100 members located in congregations in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.
Another significant event in Church history which occurred in Pennsylvania was the restoration of Priesthood authority. On 15 May 1829, having read about baptism for the remission of sins as they worked on the translation of the gold plates, Joseph Smith and his scribe Oliver Cowdery went to a secluded area to inquire of the Lord concerning the matter. There, on the banks of the Susquehanna River near Harmony, Pennsylvania, they received the answer to their prayer. John the Baptist, a resurrected being, came to them as “a messenger from heaven . . . in a cloud of light.” He conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood. Then, in obedience to his instructions, Joseph and Oliver baptized each other and ordained each other to the Aaronic Priesthood. Also in May 1829, the ancient Apostles Peter, James, and John conferred the Melchizedek Priesthood upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. In June 1829, guided “by the gift and power of God” Doctrine and Covenants 135:3, the Prophet Joseph Smith completed the translation of the Book of Mormon. In 1839, Joseph visited Philadelphia to organize a branch of the Church and speak to a gathering of 3,000 people.
Groundbreaking Ceremony
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple on Saturday, 17 September 2011 — the 224th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States at Philadelphia's Independence Hall. Attendance at the temple site was by invitation only. The event warranted a long story in the Philadelphia Enquirer.
Open House, Cultural Celebration, and Temple Dedication
A public open house for the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple was conducted from Wednesday, 10 August 2016, through Friday, 9 September 2016, excluding Sundays.
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, presided over the cultural celebration which took place the night before the dedication of the temple, on Saturday, 17 September 2016, at Temple University. The Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple was dedicated as the 152nd temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sunday, 18 September 2016. It is the first temple in Philadelphia and the state. President Henry B. Eyring, the First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, dedicated the temple in three sessions 9:00 a.m., 12:00 noon and 3:00 p.m. The dedicatory sessions were broadcast to all Church meetinghouses in Pennsylvania and those in the Philadelphia Temple district.
President Eyring has a close bond to this particular temple since he was born and lived in New Jersey and was baptized in Philadelphia as a boy.
Today there are 51,406 members, 2 missions, 12 stakes, 84 wards, and 30 branches in Pennsylvania alone. The Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple will be the first temple in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware region. The Philadelphia Temple District will include 10 stakes — seven in Pennsylvania, two in Delaware, and one in New Jersey.
