The Ogden Utah Temple celebrates 50 years
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- Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are shown during a wedding ceremony at the Ogden Utah Temple on Friday, Jan. 14, 2022.
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- This 1980s areal shot of the Ogden Temple features the dated architecture for which the temple was known.
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- A program, entrance ticket and donation certificate belonging to Susan DeYoung from the original Ogden Temple dedication that took place between Jan. 18-20, 1972. Photo taken in Ogden on July 30, 2014.
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- Shaun Boydston, light shirt, and Carl Turner, dark hoodie, work to install the statue of the angel Moroni on the spire of the Ogden LDS Temple on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.
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- After years of remodeling, the Ogden Utah Temple reopened in the summer of 2014.
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- A tour of the Ogden Temple for media was held on Tuesday, July 29, 2014.
OGDEN — It will be 50 years since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened the doors of the Ogden Utah Temple on Tuesday. Current Ogden Temple President Donald Jack Keyes is expected to speak during an anniversary ceremony to ordinance workers at the church, according to Glenn Mower, who has been a member since 1974.
Construction on the Ogden Temple began on Sept. 8, 1969, under the church presidency of Joseph Fielding Smith. The temple, located in the heart of Ogden at 350 22nd St., has been serving Latter-day Saints in northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming since Jan. 18, 1972, when Smith dedicated it.
According to church data, there are more than 160 operating temples across the globe. Ogden’s is one of 28 temples open or planned in Utah — and the only one in Weber County. A temple in Syracuse was announced in 2020 and one is currently under construction in Layton.
Following a wedding ceremony Friday morning, a married couple walking the grounds of the temple recalled watching it being built. The woman, who did not wish to give her name, said she knew it was the temple she was going to be married in, and she did in 1974, two years after it opened.
The woman and her husband remember a different temple from 1972. They said it was more round like the Provo Temple up until 2014, when it was extensively renovated.
The renovation dramatically changed the look of the temple, inside and out. According to church information, the exterior was reshaped with new stone and art glass and the main entrance was moved from the west side of the sacred structure to the east, facing Washington Boulevard.
Additional changes included reconfigured rooms, underground parking, new landscaping throughout the temple block and a major water feature.
The rebuilt temple was rededicated Sept. 21, 2014, by then-President Thomas S. Monson.
Latter-day Saint Margaret Toney does not know what the Ogden Temple used to look like as she did not move to the area until five years ago, but she has been to other temples around the country.
Toney and fellow members of the church continue to visit the temple during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they must first make an appointment for any services they would like to attend.
“The church is trying to keep everyone safe,” Toney said of her visit.