About 40,000 people tour new $5 million Mormon temple in Reno

Martin Griffith

Sunday, April 16, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A new $5 million Mormon temple perched high atop a hill overlooking Reno was the hottest attraction in this gambling city last week.

About 40,000 people toured the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 81st temple worldwide during a weeklong open house that ended Saturday, church officials said. Only Mormons now will be allowed inside.

"I think people viewed it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a temple," church spokesman Wayne Abbott said. "We wanted the public to see that it's a sacred place, not a secretive place."

Used for certain ceremonies such as marriage and baptism, the 10,700-square-foot temple features walls of white with gold trim, white carpet, large mirrors and crystal chandeliers.

The temple's exterior is made of granite from a quarry in Sharon, Vt., the birthplace of church founder Joseph Smith. Its spire is topped by a seven-foot, gold-painted statue of the Angel Moroni.

Church officials said more than half of the visitors were non-Mormons, and the tour drew people from a widespread area of Nevada, California and Utah.

During the week, a man passed out brochures to visitors condemning Mormon temples as an attack on Biblical Christianity. He belonged to a group calling itself Freedom in Truth Outreach.

"I guess we have experienced that kind of thing all along," Abbott said. "We find out most of the time that these brochures are printed with only partial truths or untruths.

"Other than this, the public response to the temple was very, very positive."

The church has worked to resolve neighbors' concerns over the temple's outside lighting, Abbott added.

The Reno temple was built to spare local church members a 200-mile drive to the nearest temple in Oakland, Calif.

The temple will serve about 26,500 members who live in an eight-stake region stretching from Winnemucca to Lake Tahoe and from Hawthorne to Susanville, Calif.

The temple is the second one in Nevada. An 80,999-square-foot temple opened in Las Vegas in 1989.