As part of a "cotton mission", an initiative announced during
general conference, 309 men and their families were called upon to bolster the regional economy through cotton production, to settle the area that became St. George.
Bruce C. Hafen has said of those assembled that there were "mixed emotions", as this was the first that they had heard about it.
Planning Brigham Young, the second church president, called a special meeting on January 31, 1871, in which he proposed the idea of constructing a temple in St. George. This was agreed to with a
unanimous vote. The temple's site dedication and groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 9, 1871. Young selected St. George for the temple's location due to the presence of loyal area church members and a desire to unify a region considered challenging to settle. The temple's construction provided both employment and a source of economic stability. At the time of the St. George Temple's announcement, the
Salt Lake Temple was still in the early stages of construction and would not be completed until 1893. following the member migration westward after the death of church founder Joseph Smith. It is the first in the list of operating temples. The St. George Temple was the first place where the
endowment was performed on behalf of deceased individuals, also making it the first temple where all temple ordinances could be performed for the dead, Up until this point, the wording of the temple ordinances were given verbally and by memory until the St. George Temple was dedicated, where the ordinances were written down for the first time. Young chose a six-acre plot as the temple site, The chosen site of the temple had swampy conditions. A 1942 interview with a local resident stated that Young said the location had been dedicated by ancient
Nephites for a temple. However, this account surfaced nearly 70 years after Young's death and is not documented during his lifetime. The cannon was left behind during his retreat, and it traveled to
Siberia, then
Alaska, and eventually to California. Young advised the workmen to test the foundation's strength by dropping the cannon, and that if it bounced three times, then the foundation was solid. The cannon's origin has been disputed and has multiple origin stories. Kirk M. Curtis, writing for Brigham Young University, wrote that the cannon coming from Napoleon was an "interesting story".
Ardis E. Parshall of
the Salt Lake Tribune said that the origin of the cannon is in doubt, and stated that Erastus Snow told a local member, Jesse Crosby, to buy the cannon whilst out at California, for defense against Native-Americans. When the legislature refused to pay for it, Crosby lent it out for local militia use. The Church Newsroom, in 2011 stated that Crosby did buy the cannon out in California, but that its origin was in either Mexico or South America. Other sources, like the Washington County Historical Society, and Rueben Wadsworth of St. George News state that the cannon has origins from the Mexican-American war.Following the stabilization of the foundation, construction began. The walls were built with local
red sandstone, finished with a whitewash coating. Historians
James Allen and
Glen M. Leonard stated that the temple was a symbol of independence, self sufficiency, with "painstaking handwork" and a great labor of love by the pioneers. At its completion, it contained 1,000,000
board feet (2,000 square meters) of
lumber, which had been hand-chopped and hauled 80 miles (100 km). They carved two types of volcanic rock from a nearby quarry. Average stones were about the size of a coffin, and weighed 5,500 pounds. The baptismal font of 12 oxen was paid for personally by Brigham Young at a price of $5,000, and the cast oxen were transported by train and oxen drawn wagons from Salt Lake City.
Opening and reconstruction On January 1, 1877, a partial dedication of the temple was held, making the basement, ground floor, and
sealing room available for ordinances before the structure was fully completed. The dedication was performed by Wilford Woodruff, Erastus Snow, and
Brigham Young Jr.. It is the only temple completed during Young's tenure as church president and is the oldest still actively used by the church. After the temple was dedicated, members of the church from
Arizona would travel a long distance to be married in the temple; this wagon trail was traveled so often by couples that this path was called the Honeymoon Trail. Young was initially displeased with the height of the
tower, he felt that it was squat. The reconstructed tower was doubled in height to reflect Young's expressed preference. They requested that the rite of the
endowment be performed on their behalf, noting that it had not been done despite the
Endowment House's long use. Upgrades in 1917 included an enlargement of the annex. In 1938, significant modifications were made to the floor plan, involving the relocation of endowment rooms from the basement to the main level, the introduction of
murals, and the alignment of the temple with architectural trends of the 20th century. The temple was rededicated on November 11–12, 1975 by church president Spencer W. Kimball. On November 4, 2019, the temple closed for renovations. During this project, crews removed certain 20th-century additions to restore the original architectural style and incorporated
seismic upgrades. Renovations included
motifs such as a five-point gold star and a
quatrefoil. During the renovations completed in 2023, new murals were introduced for each instruction room,
commissioned by three different artists. Notable temple presidents include Wilford Woodruff (1877–1884);
John D. T. McAllister (1884–1893);
J. Thomas Fyans (1992–1995); and Bruce C. Hafen (2010–2013). == Design and access ==