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-The Orlando Temple is the 46th temple in operation for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
-The Orlando Temple is was one of only two temples dedicated by the Prophet Howard W. Hunter, who was prophet for only nine months, from June 5 1994-March 3, 1995(the other temple is the Bountiful Utah Temple).
-The Orlando Temple was announced Feb. 17, 1990.
-The Orlando Temple was dedicated in December 1994.
-The Orlando Temple is the first Latter-Day Saint temple built in Florida.
-The Orlando Temple Location was chosen for its central location in Florida, to accommodate more people.
-Years before the announcement of the Orlando Temple, President Kimball (Prophet from 1973-1985) visited the Saints in Florida and promised “Do your temple work and the temple will come to Florida.” The Saints of Florida took this seriously and were known as a “temple going people.”
-Before the Orlando Temple the Florida Saints had to travel long distances to participate in temple ordinances. The Florida Saints were in the Washington DC Temple District, and it is a fourteen hour drive.
- In the ground breaking ceremony for the Orlando Temple Elder Evans said, “No other structure that will ever be built in this community will bring greater blessings to the inhabitants and to the great state of Florida than this structure.”
History of Latter-day Saints in Florida
-In the late 1880’s and early 1900’s there was a lot of persecution to the missionaries and the early Saints that lived in the Florida area, this made the growth of the Church slow in Florida.
-At one point Missionaries were removed from Florida because opposition was so fierce, during the early 1900’s.
-The first Latter-Day Saint Stake formed in the South was in Jacksonville Florida the year 1947! In 2024 there are 34 Stakes, and over 184,000 members.
-At the dedication of the Temple it was said that "The Orlando Florida Temple stands as a monument to all the Saints in Florida who have labored so long in the field."
Building the Orlando Temple
-The neighbors of the Orlando Temple were worried about the traffic that the temple would bring to the neighborhood, so the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints agreed not to put a visitor’s center on the property.
-The neighbors were also worried about the brightness of the Temple lights at night. The Church agreed to not light the temple at night. The feelings of the neighbors changed, after the temple was built, and they asked the church to turn the lights on at night, because of the beauty it brings to the area.
-There was fierce opposition to the building of the Orlando Temple. The Saints in Florida, gathered just under 11,000 signatures to overcome this opposition to building the Temple. Most of the concerns were due to environmental concerns.
-The Orlando Temple has 12-inch-thick walls for durability. The Orlando Temple is built to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes.
