Construction on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple site with three of the four steel towers standing on April 18, 1987. (Russell Yip/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
George Tate, left, architect of the Las Vegas Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple, next to Dr. Don Christensen, former Southern Nevada spokesman for the church, with an illustration of the future temple on Nov. 6, 1986, three years before construction was complete. (Wayne Kodey/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction being done on the Las Vegas Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple on June 22, 1987. Workers have completed work on the steel skeleton and have begun installing roof panels. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 1988. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction being done on the Las Vegas Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple on June 22, 1987. Workers have completed work on the steel skeleton and have begun installing roof panels. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 1988. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction work being done on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in July 1987. The three-story, 53,000-square-foot building is set to be completed at the end of 1988. Location is the northwest corner of East Bonanza Road and Temple View Drive. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction work being done on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in July 1987. The three-story, 53,000-square-foot building is set to be completed at the end of 1988. Location is the northwest corner of East Bonanza Road and Temple View Drive. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction work being done on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in July 1987. The three-story, 53,000-square-foot building is set to be completed at the end of 1988. Location is the northwest corner of East Bonanza Road and Temple View Drive. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction work being done on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in July 1987. The three-story, 53,000-square-foot building is set to be completed at the end of 1988. Location is the northwest corner of East Bonanza Road and Temple View Drive. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction work being done on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in July 1987. The three-story, 53,000-square-foot building is set to be completed at the end of 1988. Location is the northwest corner of East Bonanza Road and Temple View Drive. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction work being done on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in July 1987. The three-story, 53,000-square-foot building is set to be completed at the end of 1988. Location is the northwest corner of East Bonanza Road and Temple View Drive. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Construction work being done on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in July 1987. The three-story, 53,000-square-foot building is set to be completed at the end of 1988. Location is the northwest corner of East Bonanza Road and Temple View Drive. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Portrait of the Southern Nevada spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Dr. Don Christensen standing in front of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple that is under construction on Sept. 9, 1987. Christensen, 57, is the president of the church’s Las Vegas Paradise Stake and is a surgeon by profession at Sunrise Hospital. (Wayne Kodey/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The baptistry in the Las Vegas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Nov. 14, 1989. In this font, on the backs of oxen representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel, Church members are baptized by proxy in behalf of those who have died without the opportunity. (Courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
The celestial room of the Las Vegas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Nov. 14, 1989. (Courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
An ordinance room of the Las Vegas temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple tourers filing toward the main entrance on Dec. 9, 1989. (Wayne Kodey/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
A sealing room of the Las Vegas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Marriages for eternity and other sacred “sealing” ordinances are performed in this room and others like it in the temple. (Courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
The Las Vegas Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple opened in December 1989 after four years of construction.
The temple was first announced on April 7, 1984, and broke ground in November 1985 at the base of Frenchman Mountain. The temple was announced at the same time as four other temples worldwide located in San Diego, California; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Bogota, Colombia; and Portland, Oregon.
The temple is 80,350 square feet, and includes a baptistry, celestial room, six sealing rooms and four ordinance rooms. The golden Angel Moroni on top of the temple is 137 feet high surrounded by six gold-capped spires.
While the open house for the temple was not held until Nov. 13, 1989, when church members were allowed to tour the building a day earlier than the public, over 8,000 people showed up in a four-hour touring period. The temple was officially dedicated on Dec. 16, 1989.
The temple is visited primarily by church members in Southern Nevada, Arizona and California, according to the church’s news outlet.
A second temple in the Las Vegas Valley near Lone Mountain was announced during the church’s biannual General Conference this month, although groundbreaking and opening dates for the new temple have not yet been announced.
The temple will become the fourth LDS temple in Nevada.
The Review-Journal’s Rochelle Richards contributed to this story.
