The intent to build the temple was announced on October 1, 2005, by church president Gordon B. Hinckley, during general conference.

When completed in 2009, the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple served approximately 83,000 Latter-day Saints living in the western Salt Lake Valley.

[2] The building is faced with light beige granite quarried and milled from China and features a single attached end spire with a statue of the angel Moroni.

[6][7] The property was donated to the church by Kennecott Land, a portion of a company that mines copper and precious minerals from the Oquirrh Mountains, a few miles west of the temple.

The building features a single stone spire 193 feet (59 m) high, topped by a 9-foot (2.7 m) statue of the angel Moroni.

[4][12] After construction was completed, but prior to beginning a public open house, media were invited to tour the temple in May 2009.

[19] Designed by Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects,[4] the temple's architecture reflects both the cultural heritage of the South Jordan area and the spiritual significance of the church.

[20] The exterior has art glass windows with stars, circles, and flutes,[12] elements chosen for their symbolic significance and alignment with temple traditions.

The interior has limestone from Egypt and Morocco and white oak wood from Indiana and Kentucky throughout the temple, as well as bronze handrails, chandeliers with Swarovski crystals.