Mormon church announces location of new temple in Springfield

The new temple planned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for Eugene and Springfield now has an official location and name.

The Willamette Valley Oregon Temple, first announced in April, will be built on a 10.5-acre site north of International Way and east of Corporate Way in north Springfield, according to a church news release. It's located north of PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.

The temple is planned to be single-story and approximately 30,000 square feet. An artist's rendering was included in the release, but detailed design plans are still in development, the church said.

A private groundbreaking ceremony will be announced at a later time, according to communication director and temple media liaison Jeff Robinson. 

He noted temples usually take two to five years to complete following the initial announcement, depending on the speed of the planning and permitting process. 

"Not only will people in Eugene and Springfield benefit from the proximity of this temple, but it will shave off an hour or more of travel time for Latter-Day Saints along the coast and in the Cascades," Robinson said in an email Sunday. 

Springfield's temple will be the third in Oregon, joining existing ones in Portland and Medford.

"Based on other existing temples, including those in Portland and Medford, the Eugene temple will ultimately exceed our community's expectations in terms of beauty, thoughtfulness and contribution to the surrounding neighborhood," Robinson said in April.

The temple was one of 20 announced for cities in Europe, Asia, Africa, Mexico and the Americas by church President Russell M. Nelson at the church’s general conference in April.

“We want to bring the house of the Lord even closer to our members that they may have the sacred privilege of attending the temple as often as their circumstances allow,” Nelson said at the conference in Salt Lake City. 

For the church, widely known as the Mormon church, temples are the most sacred places of worship, typically open only to members and reserved for special ceremonies such as marriages. Smaller, less ornate meeting houses, also called chapels, are used for regular Sunday services and community activities. 

There are nearly 154,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oregon, along with roughly 300 congregations, according to the initial church release. 

The first Oregon church settlements began with the arrival of Latter-day Saint businessmen in 1887, according to the church website. They then built a lumber mill on the North Powder River before persuading several hundred families to move to Oregon.

Louis Krauss covers breaking news for The Register-Guard. Contact him at lkrauss@registerguard.com or 541-521-2498, and follow him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.