The Washington D.C. Temple is the 16th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Washington DC Temple was announced on December 7, 1968 followed by a groundbreaking ceremony on the same day. The announcement was gladly received by the thousands of members that lived east of the Mississippi River who had no nearby temple. A very large plot of land on a wooded hill had been bought in 1962 for the temple, and only eleven acres were cleared for the building itself. The rest of the land was left untouched to give the temple a remote feeling.