Wichita, Kansas: First Temple in the State Dedicated by Elder Patrick Kearon

Kansas has its first temple. Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Wichita Kansas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, November 1, in a session that began at 10 a.m. The session was broadcast to congregations throughout the temple district, with a rebroadcast at 2 p.m., the Church reported.

The temple, at 2550 West Harborlight Street in northwest Wichita, is the 229th operating temple of the Church worldwide and the first in Kansas. It will serve more than 14,500 members in the region. Elder Jeremiah J. Morgan, a General Authority Seventy who presided over the September media day, said the temple "will serve almost 15,000 members in and around this area and will be a place where people can come for respite, for peace, for learning, for the opportunity to worship Jesus Christ."

A short drive after a long wait

For older Kansas members, the change is measured in miles. Earl McIntyre moved to Wichita in 1978 for a job with Boeing, Church News reported. His temple district then reached nearly a thousand miles west to Manti, Utah. The Dallas Texas Temple, dedicated in 1984, cut the drive to less than six hours, and the Oklahoma City temple, completed in 2000, cut it to under three. Wichita puts it at minutes. "I can make it there in 10 minutes if I don't hit any traffic lights," McIntyre said.

The Church in Kansas has grown from one stake that once stretched from Colorado Springs to Eureka and from Nebraska to Oklahoma, to eight stakes across the state, Church News reported. Wichita member Glenda Jones put the local mood plainly: "We're prepared to be in the temple a lot. You'll have to drag us out."

Wheat and sunflowers in the design

The building is a single story of about 9,950 square feet on a 6.42 acre site, and it stands 97.5 feet tall at the top of its spire, according to the Church press kit. Its design motifs draw on Kansas: rolling wheat fields, sunflowers and art deco elements, in sage green, golden wheat and soft paprika. Sunflowers appear in the art glass. Wichita resident Rebecca Rather said: "Just as young sunflowers move to face the sun as it crosses the sky each day, the temple is a reminder to me to keep my focus on Jesus Christ and his light."

Kansas is home to nearly 40,000 Latter-day Saints meeting in 75 congregations. The first stake in Kansas was organized in Wichita in June 1962. Until Sunday, the closest temple to Wichita was the Oklahoma City temple, about 180 miles to the south.

Four years from announcement to dedication

President Russell M. Nelson announced the temple in general conference on April 3, 2022. Ground was broken on September 7, 2024, in a ceremony presided over by Elder Steven R. Bangerter. A media day on September 21, 2026 opened the finished building, invited guests toured on September 22 and 23, and the public open house ran from September 24 through October 10, excluding Sundays and October 3.

Church temples are not Sunday meetinghouses. The Church teaches that a temple is a house of the Lord, where marriages, baptisms and other ceremonies unite families for eternity. Wichita members who once drove hours for those ceremonies can now reach their own temple across town.