Greater Cincinnati is getting its first Latter-day Saints temple. Will it be in Mason?

Almost 200 years after its founder, Joseph Smith, first visited Cincinnati, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will build a temple somewhere in the city or its suburbs.

Leaders of the church made the decision official April 7 during their general conference in Salt Lake City, where they announced Cincinnati as one of 15 places worldwide that soon would be home to new temples. Church members, who number about 20,000 in the Cincinnati and Dayton area, greeted the news with cheers and tears.

Temples are among the most sacred places for Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons, and construction of the first one here reflects the growth of the church in the region.

“This is a great symbol of hope for us,” said Wesley Foister, president of the church’s Cincinnati North Stake. “We expect that it will be a symbol of hope for the community as well.”

Cincinnati’s ties to the Latter-day Saints date to the church’s founding in the 1830s, when Smith visited the city, sent preachers here and published the third edition of the Book of Mormon, the doctrinal foundation of the church, at a downtown print shop.

David Webster, a Latter-day Saint from Utah who is assisting missionaries in Cincinnati, said the city’s history with the church is a source of pride for local members, many of whom have been waiting all their lives for the church to build a temple here.

“There was a lot of hooping and hollering going on,” Webster said of the announcement. “It’s a big deal.”

Church buys land in Mason

Though church leaders are now committed to building a temple in Greater Cincinnati, a big question remains: Where will it be?

Foister said local church leaders haven’t been told anything about potential locations, and the church’s media office in Salt Lake City did not respond to a call and an email.

One possibility is Mason, the growing suburban city north of Cincinnati. Property records from the Warren County Auditor show the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns a 35-acre plot of vacant land in the city, just off Mason-Montgomery Road and Cedar Village Drive.

The church bought the land for almost $7.9 million last September, according to property records.

Mason city officials said they have not heard from church leaders about their plans for the site. But Mason City Manager Eric Hansen, who also is a member of the church, said the church’s announcement and its recent purchase of so much land “certainly leads to speculation” among the faithful.

“Having a temple close by, yeah, that’s an exciting thing,” Hansen said. “That’s a thing that folks pray for.”

Hansen said he’s aware of no zoning or other restrictions that would prohibit construction of a large religious structure on the vacant land, which is located near offices and other commercial buildings, if church leaders decide to build it there.

Temples vary in size, from just under 10,000 to well over 100,000 square feet, but they typically reflect the size of congregations around them. The one in Columbus is about 12,000 square feet while the one in Indianapolis is 34,000 square feet.

For comparison’s sake, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati is about 23,000 square feet.

Why temples matter to the faithful

Temples are significant to Latter-day Saints because they serve a purpose no other church building can. They are where members receive special instruction about God and where they participate in ceremonies that enhance family bonds, a cornerstone of church beliefs.

Unlike most Christian churches, temples, which are closed on Sundays, are not where Latter-day Saints go for weekly worship services. Smaller gathering places, known as meeting houses, serve that purpose.

Some church members may go to temple every week, while others go monthly or a few times a year. Distance often determines how often someone visits a temple.

Dale Erskine, a church member in Green Township, remembers when the only meeting house in the area was in Norwood and the nearest temple to Cincinnati was in Washington, D.C.

“We’d drive all night,” he said. “Then we’d drive back to Cincinnati.”

The journey shortened in the 1970s, when a temple was built near Chicago, and shortened more over the past 25 years as temples went up in Louisville, Columbus and Indianapolis.

But those still are more than an hour’s drive from Cincinnati. Erskine said that’s why the decision to build a temple closer to home was such welcome news.

“Joy filled the hearts of many, many, many Latter-day Saints here,” he said.

'Gateway to the greatest blessings'

Ohio and Cincinnati played an important role in the history of the church.

Although Smith founded the church in Fayette Township, New York, in 1830, he lived in Ohio for about a decade and made Kirtland, Ohio, near Cleveland, the de facto headquarters of the early church. A temple built by Smith and his followers in Kirtland still stands.

Around the same time, Smith sent preachers to Cincinnati, writing that they should “lift up their voice & declare my word with loud voices.”

According to The Joseph Smith Papers, an archival program overseen by the church, Smith visited Cincinnati himself in 1831 and, nine years later, approved the production of the third edition of the Book of Mormon, published by a downtown Cincinnati print shop.

It’s believed to be the last edition of the Book of Mormon overseen by Smith, who left Ohio for Missouri in the late 1830s with many of his followers. He was killed by an armed mob in 1844 when tensions between Latter-day Saints and those suspicious of the newcomers erupted in violence.

Small congregations of Latter-day Saints remained in Ohio and their numbers grew modestly over the years. The Pew Research Center estimates they account for less than 1% of the state’s population.

The first temple in Ohio outside of Kirtland wasn’t built until 1999, in Columbus. The temple in Greater Cincinnati, wherever it’s built, will be the third in Ohio since construction of the Kirtland temple.

“The temple is the gateway to the greatest blessings God has for each of us,” said the Latter-day Saints’ president, Russell M. Nelson, when he announced plans to build here.

The general conference is among the most important events of the year for Latter-day Saints, and Foister said he and his family watched the announcement live on TV. He said his daughters cheered. His son, a missionary in Central America, sent him a heart emoji. And excited church members started calling and texting one another.

“I think tears came to my eyes,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Latter-day Saints temple: Coming soon to Cincinnati or Mason