Brigham City Utah Temple
November 23, 2009 by Guest Author
Filed under Temples in America
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The plan to build a new temple in Brigham City Utah was announced at the general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October, 2009. The temple has been built on the property at 250 S. Main St., directly west of and across the street from the church’s Brigham City Tabernacle at 251 S. Main. It is the 14th LDS temple in Utah. At the time the temple was announced, the church had 130 temples in operation worldwide, with another 21 either announced or under construction.
The city block — known to locals as Central Square — once was home to Brigham City’s Central Elementary School. After the school was razed, a professional plaza-type development was projected for the property. A recent sign on Central Square announced the property had been sold.
The block is bordered in both directions along Main Street by retail businesses and to the west by private residences. The Box Elder Tabernacle, completed in 1890, was gutted by fire in February 1896 and rebuilt and rededicated a year later. It was closed in 1986 for major restoration and reopened and rededicated in April 1987.
With its steeple being one of the community’s most visible landmarks for miles, the tabernacle is still used for LDS conferences, concerts and other community meetings. It was included on the National Register of Historical Places in 1971 — one of the state’s first such designated sites.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on July 31, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. The public was invited to attend. The event was also broadcasted to stake centers in the temple district.
Patterned after classic designs found at the Logan, Manti and Salt Lake temples, the Brigham City temple has a limestone exterior and faces east toward the tabernacle. The temple has two spires, one topped by a statue of Moroni, the last prophet to record his words in the Book of Mormon. The angel Moroni reaches several feet higher than the highest point of the tabernacle. Two tiered parking enables the temple and parking to fit on the 3-acre lot. Attractive fencing, garden and fountain create a tranquil setting, even though the location is downtown.
Leading up to the dedication of the temple, an open house was held during which the public and dignitaries could tour the temple as guides explained the purpose of the various rooms. Nearly 404,500 visitors toured the building during the one-month public open house from 18 August to 15 September. The largest number of visitors to tour the temple was 25,000 on Labor Day.
Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ, and a native of this northern Utah Mormon pioneer-settled city, dedicated the 139th temple in the Church and the 14th in Utah on Sunday, 23 September 2012. The temple was dedicated in three sessions, and the dedication was broadcast by closed-circuit television to stake centers (Mormon meetinghouses) in Utah and Idaho. Those Mormons who attended inside the temple and in Mormon meetinghouses were required to be worthy for the event. Those without temple recommends and children were given special purpose recommends for the occasion.
Prior to the dedication a cornerstone laying ceremony was held, attended by President Packer, his wife, Donna Packer; Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy; and Elder William R. Walker and Elder Allan F. Packer of the Seventy. Each of the Church leaders’ wives participated in placing mortar around the temple cornerstone. Members of the Brigham City Temple presidency also attended.
Two choirs comprised of Latter-day Saints from within the temple district of northern Utah and southeastern Idaho sang Church hymns for the dedication and cornerstone ceremony. The day before the dedication, as is traditional when a new temple opens, a cultural celebration was held featuring nearly 5,000 youth from Utah and Idaho portraying the history and traditions of the region.
After the Brigham City Utah Temple was dedicated it was closed to the public and even to Mormons without temple recommends. It is open to members of the Church of Jesus Christ who have been recommended by their ecclesiastical leaders for their worthiness. The temple district includes some 40,000 Latter-day Saints living in 13 stakes of the church in northern Utah and southeastern Idaho. [1]
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