Nauvoo Temple - History

History

The Latter-day Saints made preparations to build a temple soon after establishing their headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois in 1839. On 6 April 1841, the temple's cornerstone was laid under the direction of Joseph Smith, Jr., the church's restorer. Sidney Rigdon gave the principal oration. At its base the building was 128 feet (39 m) long and 88 feet (27 m) wide with a clock tower and weather vane reaching to a total height of 165 feet (50 m)—a 60% increase over the dimensions of the Kirtland Temple. Like Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple contained two assembly halls, one on the first floor and one on the second, called the lower and upper courts. Both had classrooms and offices in the attic. Unlike Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple had a full basement which housed a baptismal font. Because the Saints had to abandon Nauvoo, the building was not entirely completed. The basement with its font was finished, as were the first floor assembly hall and the attic. When these parts of the building were completed they were used for performing ordinances (basement and attic) or for worship services (first floor assembly hall).

The Nauvoo Temple was designed in the Greek Revival style by Mormon architect William Weeks, under the direction of Smith. Weeks' design made use of distinctively Latter-day Saint motifs, including Sunstones, Moonstones, and Starstones. It is often mistakenly thought that these stones represent the Three Degrees of Glory in the Mormon conception of the afterlife, but the stones appear in the wrong order. Instead, Wandle Mace, foreman for the framework of the Nauvoo Temple, has explained that the design of the temple was meant to be “a representation of the Church, the Bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Wandle Mace, Autobiography 207 (BYU Special Collections)). In this regard Mace references John’s statement in Revelation 12:1 concerning the “woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” This explains why the Starstones are at the top of the temple (“crown of twelve stars”), the Sunstones in the middle (“clothed with the sun”) and the Moonstones at the bottom (“moon under her feet”).

Construction was only half complete when Smith was assassinated in 1844. After a succession crisis, Brigham Young was sustained as the church's leader by the majority of Mormons in Nauvoo. As mob violence increased during the summer of 1845, he encouraged the Latter-day Saints to complete the temple even as they prepared to abandon the city. Young likely altered the original plans to add a large pediment beneath the cupola. Even as the temple was under construction portions of it were used for sacred rites, such as baptisms for the dead in the basement font. During the winter of 1845-46, the temple began to be used for additional ordinances, including the Nauvoo-era rituals of Endowment and Sealings in Marriage and Adoptions. The Nauvoo Temple was in use for less than three months.

Most of the Latter-day Saints left Nauvoo, beginning in February 1846, but a small crew remained to finish the temple's first floor, so that it could be formally dedicated. Once the first floor was finished with pulpits and benches, the building was finally dedicated in private services on 30 April 1846, and in public services on 1 May. In September 1846 the remaining Mormons were driven from the city and vigilantes from the neighboring region, including Carthage, Illinois, entered the near-empty city and vandalized the temple.

Initially the church's agents tried to lease the structure, first to the Catholic Church, and then to private individuals. When this failed, they attempted to sell the temple, asking up to $200,000, but this effort also met with no success. On 11 March 1848, the church's agents sold the building to another Mormon, David T. LeBaron, for $5,000. Finally, the New York Home Missionary Society expressed interested in leasing the building as a school, but around midnight on 8–9 October 1848, the temple was set on fire. Nauvoo's residents — mostly non-Mormons and the few Mormons remaining in Nauvoo — vainly attempted to put out the fire, but the temple was gutted. James J. Strang, leader of a rival faction of Latter Day Saints, accused Young's agents of setting fire to the temple; however, these charges were never proven. On 2 April 1849 LeBaron sold the damaged temple to Étienne Cabet for $2000. Cabet, whose followers were called Icarians, hoped to establish Nauvoo as a communistic utopia.