Brigham City among five new locales for LDS temples

A new temple in Brigham City was announced Saturday morning by President Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The announcement was made during the Saturday morning session of the church's 179th Semiannual General Conference.

Historical accounts suggest a temple in that northern Utah community had been talked about — and even a potential site identified — more than a century ago by two of President Monson's predecessors.

The Brigham City Temple was one of five announced by President Monson at the Saturday morning session of general conference, along with temples planned for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Concepcion, Chile; Fortaleza, Brazil; and Sapporo, Japan.

Actual sites for the proposed temples have yet to be identified by the LDS Church, which currently has 130 temples in operation worldwide. Saturday's announcement brings the total of additional temples either announced or under construction to 21.

"We continue to build temples," President Monson said, noting that 83 percent of church members live within 200 miles of a temple. "We desire that as many members as possible have an opportunity to attend the temple without having to travel inordinate distances."

Brigham City was founded in 1851 by Lorenzo Snow — at the time an LDS Church apostle and later president of the church — by assignment from then-President Brigham Young.

Originally, the community was named Box Elder, with the name changed to Youngsville several years later and renamed Brigham City in 1867. Brigham Young gave his final public sermon there in 1877 before his death.

Frederick M. Huchel has authored several local histories on Box Elder County and the Box Elder Tabernacle, citing Brigham Young as telling Lorenzo Snow that a temple would someday be built in Brigham City, specifically on the gravel eminence just east of the city cemetery.

A temple in Brigham City will be the 14th in Utah, where two temples — the Draper Utah Temple and South Jordan's Oquirrh Mountain Temple — were dedicated earlier this year.

"I was completely startled," said Ronald L. Frandsen, president of the Box Elder Stake in Brigham City. "I just can't express the surprise. In fact, I still have waves of emotion coming over me as I think about that, what it's going to mean to our community and stake."

LDS Church members in Brigham City are split between two temple districts — the northern stakes go to Logan and the southern to Ogden. The proximity of two temples made the announcement even more of a welcome surprise.

"The thing that impresses me is how many people in our community are now going to have the opportunity to work in the temple, to serve in the temple, to have that blessing in the lives," Frandsen said.