News Release

Groundbreaking Announced for Winchester Virginia Temple

This will be the fourth temple in Virginia

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the groundbreaking date for the Winchester Virginia Temple.

Groundbreaking services for the Winchester Virginia Temple will be held on Saturday, August 9, 2025. Elder Robert M. Daines, Second Counselor in the North America Northeast Area Presidency, will preside at the event.

As previously announced, this house of the Lord will be built on an 11.27-acre site located at 200 Merrimans Lane in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 30,000 square feet.

President Nelson announced this temple during the April 2023 general conference.

“Jesus Christ is the reason we build temples,” he said then. “Each is His holy house. Making covenants and receiving essential ordinances in the temple, as well as seeking to draw closer to Him there, will bless your life in ways no other kind of worship can.”

The Winchester Virginia Temple will be the fourth temple in the state. The Richmond Virginia Temple was dedicated on May 7, 2023, by President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency. The Roanoke Virginia Temple was announced in October 2023, and the Norfolk Virginia Temple was announced in April 2025.

In 1957, the Church established its first stake in Richmond, Virginia. The Church grew rapidly in the state during the 1970s and 1980s, establishing 10 new stakes during those decades.

Virginia, part of the East Coast of the United States, is currently home to more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints in more than 210 congregations.

Latter-day Saints consider each temple a house of the Lord and the most sacred place of worship on earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.

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