Mormon church announces location for first Iowa temple

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, announced Monday it would build its first Iowa temple in Johnston.

The announcement comes a few weeks after the church said it would build in the Des Moines metro as part of a 15-temple global expansion. Iowa's temple will be built on a 19.6-acre site at 9050 Northwest 62nd Ave.

Polk County records show the church bought the land for $2.5 million in October.

Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 18,850 square feet, according to a news release.

Detailed design plans for the temple are still being developed. Further information, including an exterior rendering and a groundbreaking date, will be released later. Project leaders will soon start working with city officials on preliminary plans for the temple, and they will begin filing public documents in the coming months.

More: Des Moines will be home to Iowa's first Mormon temple. Here's what to know:

According to the church, Iowa is home to more than 29,000 active Latter-day Saints in about 70 congregations.

Iowa has a long history with the Latter-day Saints: Nearly 200 people settled the southern Iowa town of Garden Grove, which served as a waystation on the 1,300-mile route Mormons used to flee Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1846, according to the National Park Service. Garden Grove, with its cabins and crops, served as "a resting place for those who could not continue and for those who would soon arrive" and was active until 1852, the park service said.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mormon church announces location for first Iowa temple