Portland Oregon Temple

The Portland Oregon Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) located on seven acres near the intersection of Highway 217 and I-5 in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The temple's architecture features six white spires and a white marble exterior accented with green marble trim and topped with a green slate roof. It is convert|80500|sqft|m2 in area, with four ordinance rooms and fourteen sealing rooms.

The temple, the 42nd operating LDS temple, serves members of stakes in the Portland metropolitan area:
Portland,
Beaverton,
Cedar Mill,
Gresham,
Hillsboro,
Lake Oswego,
Milwaukie,
Oregon City, and
Tualatin.It also serves stakes located in other parts of Oregon:
Bend,
Corvallis,
Eugene,
Keizer,
Lebanon,
McMinnville,
Monmouth,
Mount Hood,
Rainer,
Redmond,
Salem,
Springfield, and
The Dalles.It also serves stakes located in two cities in Washington:
Longview and
Vancouver.

History

The land for the Portland Oregon Temple was purchased in the 1960s with the purpose of building a Junior College. However, when it came time to build a temple in Oregon, the Temple Committee decided that the property was the best place for the temple. The process of getting the property approved for the temple was difficult and included at least twenty-seven public hearings, eight lawsuits, and four petition drives which were intended to stop the development. Eventually construction was able to commence.

When the temple was completed the attitudes of those in the community seemed to have changed and almost 300,000 people attended the open house. On August 19, 1989 the Portland Oregon Temple was dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then First Counselor in the First Presidency.

ee also

* List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by geographic region

External links

* [http://www.lds.org/temples/main/0,11204,1912-1-78-0,00.html Official LDS Portland Oregon Temple page]
* [http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/portland/ Portland Oregon Temple page]