The Fairview Texas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially began construction with a groundbreaking ceremony held Saturday, Feb. 21.
The ceremony was presided over by Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt, first counselor in the church’s United States Southwest Area Presidency, and was held just over two months after preliminary infrastructure work on the temple site began in December.
“We pray (the Fairview temple) will be a place where all thy children may come to feel a unique outpouring of thy divine presence, power and peace,” Elder Schmitt said in prayer as he dedicated the temple site for construction.
Plans to construct the Fairview Texas Temple were approved in late April 2025, but their approval did not come without a wrestle.
Original plans proposed the temple be a two-story, 45,000-square-foot structure with a spire reaching 174 feet.
But after the Fairview Town Council rejected these original plans and a negotiation period of nearly nine months passed, a decision was reached for the Fairview temple to be a one-story, 30,742-square-foot structure with a steeple and spire reaching 120 feet above ground.
“We are grateful for the outcome of last night’s meeting and extend our sincere appreciation to the Fairview Town Council for honoring the terms of the mediated agreement,” church spokeswoman Melissa McKneely said in a statement issued after the adjusted plans were approved in late April of last year.
“We know the temple will be a peaceful addition to Fairview and the surrounding communities,” she said.
The church again expressed its gratitude towards the Fairview Town Council when it announced plans to begin preliminary work on the temple site in December. A news release on ChurchofJesusChrist.org stated: “The church is grateful for the cooperation of the Town of Fairview as we move forward with the permitting on this project.”
Other expressions of gratitude for the Fairview Texas Temple and the significance of temple worship were given by local church members and leaders at its groundbreaking ceremony held Saturday.
Latter-day Saint youth Lindsey McKneely, for instance, said at the ceremony: “I love the temple. It’s my favorite place. It’s my refuge. It’s where I go to feel safe and to feel loved. Everything slows down for me …. I know whatever I go through, I never go through it alone because of my covenants and my Savior Jesus Christ.”
While dedicating the Fairview temple’s 8.16-acre site for construction, Elder Schmitt also prayed for “blessings to be poured out upon” the temple’s surrounding community.
“We pray a blessing to be upon all thy children in this beautiful community of Fairview, Texas, and surrounding municipalities,” Elder Schmitt said. “We pray that hearts will be softened and that all thy children will feel of thy light, grace and goodness that will emanate from this holy place.”
To be located at 681 E. Stacy Road in Fairview, Texas, the Fairview temple will be the church’s third operating temple in the state’s Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area and will help serve the state’s more than 390,000 Latter-day Saints.
The Fairview Texas Temple was first announced by the late church President Russell M. Nelson in October 2022 general conference, with the location of Prosper, Texas.
When the temple’s site location was officially released in December 2023, the temple was then named the McKinney Texas Temple. But in April of last year, the temple was renamed as the Fairview Texas Temple to reflect its planned location in Fairview — a Texas suburb north of Dallas.
Learn more about the Fairview Texas Temple and others around the world by visiting the Church News’ temple almanac at this link.
