Public open house for Deseret Peak Utah Temple, the 200th for Latter-day Saints, begins Thursday

The new Deseret Peak Utah Temple, which when dedicated in November will become the 200th temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sits on a rise where it can be seen for more than 5 miles across the Tooele Valley west of Salt Lake City.
“It’s already become an iconic part of this beautiful valley,” said Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Utah Area of the church.
Now the church is ready to share the new temple with the community during a free public open house that begins Thursday and runs through Oct. 19, excluding Sundays and Saturday, Oct. 5, when the church will be holding its 194th Semiannual General Conference.
Reservations to attend the open house are available here.
“We anticipate that upwards of 100,000 people will come to visit the open house based on current reservations,” Elder Pearson said.
Elder Pearson and other leaders directed a media open house on Monday and the church released the first images from inside the Deseret Peak Utah Temple.
Until now, members of the church living in Tooele have had to drive 30 minutes to attend the Salt Lake Temple. With that temple under renovation since 2020, they’ve had to drive farther.
“There have been families living in this valley for decades who have looked forward to the day when there would be a House of the Lord here in this beautiful valley,” Elder Pearson said. “They’ve raised their children thinking about the temple, singing about the temple.”
One of those Tooele residents, Alexis Beezer, said she raised her four daughters on the song for Latter-day Saint Primary children, “I Love to See the temple.”
“Now we get to see the temple every day and look forward to attending regularly to learn about our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ,” she said. “We are so excited to have this temple in the Tooele valley, where we can worship and be united eternally as families.”
Latter-day Saints believe that temple ordinances have the power to bind them eternally to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and each other.
President Russell M. Nelson announced what initially was called the Tooele Valley Utah Temple in April 2019. It had been planned for a location on the valley floor, but after church leaders acknowledged questions and concerns about the project and withdrew those plans, the First Presidency announced a change of name and location in January 2021.
“They were trying to find the right place and I believe they did,” Tooele Mayor Debbie Winn told the Deseret News then. “I’m very thrilled that it will be in the city. This will be for all the people in this valley. We have waited and waited for this to come. It’s great news today.”
The ceremonial groundbreaking was held in May 2021.
In temples, individual Latter-day Saints make covenants with God, who promises them blessings for faithfully keeping those commitments. Those covenants are made through baptism, an instruction session called an endowment and during marriage and family sealings.
Once Latter-day Saints make those commitments once for themselves, they attend the temple to conduct baptisms, endowments and sealings for deceased ancestors.
Temples have been a centerpiece of worship since ancient times, said Elder Steven R. Bangerter, a General Authority Seventy and assistant director of the Temple Department.
“Temples, or houses of the Lord, are sacred, sacred parts of our worship and our faith tradition,” Elder Pearson said. “The temple represents the Lord Jesus Christ to us. Everything about the temple that you’ll see on the inside is a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for all of mankind.”
The Deseret Peak Temple, like all Latter-day Saint temples, includes design elements that focus visitors on Jesus Christ and that are unique to the area where they are built. Embedded in the walls, carpets and stained glass windows of the Deseret Peak Temple are the cliff rose, a white flower, and the lupine flower, which is lavender.
Salt grass, a green desert grass, is another theme throughout the temple.
The temple has the same floor plan, with some minor differences, as the Orem Utah Temple, the Taylorsville Utah Temple and the Pocatello Idaho Temple.
The temple also includes deep brown archways in several places that are designed to lift the eye. In the temple’s chapel, there is another deep brown archway with a golden arch inside that frames a painting of Jesus Christ.
President Susan H. Porter, general president of the Primary, said temples have the power to lift the sights and heal the hearts of those who visit and to connect them to God, family and others.
“Temples are an enduring symbol of God’s love for us,” she said.
“We’re excited to have it,” said Tooele resident Sarah Pankratz, who has been driving an hour to the Jordan River Utah Temple to serve as an ordinance worker for the past year to prepare for a similar volunteer role in the Deseret Peak Temple.
“It’s something I never thought we’d have in this valley,” she said. “It’s so special to have it and I think the location where it ended up was for a reason, because we can see it from all over.”
Elder Pearson said church leaders invite visitors to notice how everything in the temple points to Jesus Christ and the covenants church members make to bind them to him.
“They build our faith. They give us spiritual power. They give us direction,” he said. “Temple attendance makes men better husbands, better fathers, better individuals. It makes women better wives, better mothers. It strengthens marriages. It builds stronger families. It builds moral strength in our members, and that in turn strengthens the communities where temples also reside.”