PRIOR to April 1, 2018, mention anything about a temple in Layton, Utah and you were talking about the Layton Buddhist Temple, 644 East 1000 North in Layton – as that was the lone “temple” inside the City’s boundaries.
This temple opened way back in 1979.
However, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will redefine that title with its own “Layton, Utah Temple” in a few years.
Announced on Sunday, April 1, 2018 in General Conference, this temple will be the 19th in Utah.
“We are now pleased to announce plans to construct seven more temples,” said LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson during the Sunday, April 1, 2018 afternoon session of General Conference. “Layton, Utah,” President Nelson both smiled and laughed when he announced the name Layton, which was met with awes and cheers.
(In one Layton household, a woman listening to General Conference yelled, “What? What?” after the announcement was made.)
UPDATE: It was announced on July 15, 2019, that the temple site is the corner of Oaks Hills Drive and Rosewood Lane. It will sit on an-11.8 acre site and be 3 stories tall and 87,000-square feet (or 75 percent as large as the Ogden Temple is).
Ground was broken in the spring of 2020 and the temple may be operational by 2023.
It is a miracle that the land was used only for farming and ranching.
-Layton is a relatively “new” city in Utah, based on pioneer settlements, being an outgrowth of Kaysville, Utah.
Layton community residents de-annexed from Kaysville City, from 1902-1907, to become their own, separate unincorporated area. Layton finally incorporated as a town in 1920.
However, the move for Layton to become its own community had actually started a decade earlier in 1892.
According to the Davis County Clipper newspaper of May 6, 1892, members of the Kaysville Second Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really resided in what most recognized as Layton territory and not Kaysville. Hence, some Church members circulated a petition in 1892, asking Church leaders to rename the ward to what it really is -- the Layton Ward.
"We do not live in Kaysville City, nor Kaysville precinct, and why it is called the 2nd Ward of Kaysville we cannot understand," the newspaper report stated.
Just less than 4 months later, the Ward name change did take place.
“The members of second ward of Kaysville last Sunday decided to change the name to Layton Ward to so as to conform with the precinct and post office And hereafter it will be known by that name.” (-Davis County Clipper, Aug. 31, 1892.)
When Layton became its own official town in 1920, Kaysville’s population was 809, while Layton had less than 400 residents.
Even by 1940, Layton only had half the population of Kaysville, with 646 residents.
It was World War II and rise of area military installations, like Hill Air Force Base, that produced a surge in Layton’s population.
It was probably around 1943 when Layton surpassed Kaysville in total population. By 1950, Layton’s population was 3,456, as compared to 1,898 for Kaysville.
Layton City reached another milestone in 1985, when it surpassed Bountiful as the largest city in Davis County, with an estimated 36,000 residents.
In 2018, Layton has more than 76.000 residents, as compared to Bountiful’s 45,000 and Kaysville’s 32,000 populations.
-And, because of its larger land area and room for growth -- sometime in the future, Layton will likely surpass Ogden as the largest Utah city north of Salt Lake City ... with approximately 120,000 residents.
As such, unlike pioneer cities like Brigham City, which had century old Church prophecies about one day having its own temple, Layton is just too contemporary of a city to have had any such occurrence.
Notwithstanding this history lesson, a few references on the Web claimed Layton City would one day receive its own LDS temple years prior to the official announcement.
The first such Internet reference was probably from Matt Martinich on March 1, 2009 – just over 9 years before the official announcement of a temple in Layton. On his “LDS Church Growth” blog (ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com) and under the heading of “Potential new temples,” he claimed no special revelation for that claim, just that he had identified four key factors that: “contribute to the likelihood of a new temple announcement in a given location: Long distance from an existing temple, a large number of stakes and districts, stakes which have existed before 1981 in given location, and busy Saturday endowment schedule at the closest temple.”
And, Layton met those 4 criteria.
-Still another “before the fact” prediction for a temple in Layton came on thisweekinmormons.com, under the heading of
“UTAH NEEDS THREE MORE TEMPLES,” by Geoff Openshaw, on April 1, 2016 – exactly two years before the official announcement.
Openshaw wrote: “LAYTON. This one is a given (for a temple). This is one I actually believe in. The name “Layton” doesn’t carry a lot of caché, but the northern Wasatch Front is overcrowded when it comes to the number of stakes feeding into its temples. We should smooth that out.”
After the official temple announcement was made, Church members began to speculate about where exactly the Layton temple would be built.
Just like with the Bountiful Temple more than a quarter of century earlier, the Church surely already had land secured for a temple years before any official announcement.
A KUTV new story a day after the announcement (April 2, 2018), quoted Layton Mayor Bob Stevenson as saying yes the LDS Church already has land for a temple, though he was sworn to secrecy as to exactly where.
“We can narrow that part all the way down to it's in Layton. Not in Kaysville, or Clearfield, or Syracuse, it's in Layton, and people will really like the location,” he said. "I think that when the F-35 pilots fly in, I think they will be able to see it,” Mayor Stevenson told KUTV.
“I will say this, the church has acquired the property and so that piece of property is a done deal,” he continued.
Mayor Stevenson’s last comment to KUTV was: "That is their announcement as far as that goes so we have to let the church announce where the location where it's going to be.”
KSL-TV also talked to Mayor Stevenson about the new temple that same day. In that interview he called the announcement of a Layton temple "stunning," adding that it is "by far the most exciting announcement we've had in our community.
"I think that maybe we could even hear a roar coming from not only the Conference Center, but coming from Layton, Utah," he said.
The LDS Church sometimes prefers temples on lofty hillsides or bench areas, as with the Bountiful and Draper temples.
KSL-TV also talked to Mayor Stevenson about the new temple that same day. In that interview he called the announcement of a Layton temple "stunning," adding that it is "by far the most exciting announcement we've had in our community.
"I think that maybe we could even hear a roar coming from not only the Conference Center, but coming from Layton, Utah," he said.
The LDS Church sometimes prefers temples on lofty hillsides or bench areas, as with the Bountiful and Draper temples.
However, the Church also built temples in center of the valley areas, as with the Jordan River and the Oquirrh Mountain temples.
-According to various sources, the LDS Church may have pondered over a temple site in Layton for some 11 years. LDS Church President Thomas Monson, President Gordon B. Hinckley and President Russell M. Nelson are all said to have separately and in different years visited the site shown in the pictures above.
Actual legal closure on that land may have taken place the Friday before the General Conference announcement.
The Layton Temple is said to be a "medium" size temple and appears to be about 75 percent the size of the Ogden Temple.
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