Jordan River Temple Number of Rooms: Six ordinance rooms and seventeen sealing. Total Floor Area: 148,236 square feet. Dedication: Marion G. Romney (30 years ago) (2 years to build) Temple Facts The Jordan River Utah Temple was the seventh temple built in Utah and the second built in the Salt Lake Valley, following the Salt Lake Temple (1893). The Jordan River Utah Temple and the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple are the only two temples in the world located in the same city. The Jordan River Utah Temple is the highest capacity temple in the Church with six ordinance rooms each seating 125 patrons. The Jordan River Utah Temple is one of five temples featuring an angel Moroni statue holding the gold plates. The construction of the Jordan River Utah Temple and its maintenance costs for many years were funded entirely by monetary donations from local members. The temple site was likewise gifted to the Church. At the unconventional groundbreaking ceremony of the Jordan River Utah Temple, President Spencer W. Kimball delivered his address, offered the dedicatory prayer, and then mounted a huge Caterpillar tractor—operating the controls to move a giant shovelful of dirt. Just hours before the dedication of the Jordan River Utah Temple, news correspondents announced that President Spencer W. Kimball, who was recovering from surgery and a lengthy hospital stay, would likely be confined to his room at the Hotel Utah during the dedication services. But with tears of joy, he was welcomed to the Celestial Room just before the ceremony commenced. 30 people who were at the Salt Lake Temple dedication were also at the Jordan River Temple dedication 88 years later. Salt Lake Temple Number of Rooms: Four progressive-style ordinance rooms and fourteen sealing. Total Floor Area: 253,000 square feet. Dedication: 6–24 April 1893 by Wilford Woodruff (118 years ago) Temple Facts The Salt Lake Temple was the fourth temple built in Utah (though its construction was started first) and the first in the Salt Lake Valley. The Salt Lake Temple is the largest temple (most square footage) of the Church. The Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build with its highly ornate interior being completed in just a year. During the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, the St. George Utah Temple, Logan Utah Temple, and Manti Utah Temple were all started and completed. The walls of the Salt Lake Temple are nine feet thick at the base and six feet thick at the top. The Salt Lake Temple is the first temple to feature a standing angel Moroni statue, which was created by Paris-trained sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin. The Salt Lake Temple was dedicated on April 6, 1893—three years before Utah became a state in 1896. The huge granite blocks for the temple were cut at a quarry in a canyon twenty miles from the temple site. The blocks weighed several tons each and had to be transported in wagons pulled by ox teams. It sometimes took four days to get one block from the canyon to the temple site. Often the wagons would break down or the heavy blocks would fall off the wagons and crack or break. When the railroad came to Utah in 1869, a track was built from the quarry to the temple site and steam engines were able to move many blocks in a single day. Thus the work on the temple moved much faster. Once the blocks arrived at the temple site, they were shaped by skilled stonecutters. Some blocks were carved with symbols such as the sun, moon, and stars, reminders of important gospel principles revealed in temple ordinances. The shaping and carving of each stone block took days or sometimes weeks to finish. The children who lived near the temple site liked to play hide-and-seek among the huge stones waiting to be put in place. John Moyle was one of the stonemasons who worked on the temple. Every Monday morning he walked twenty miles from his home to the temple site. He worked on the temple all week, and then on Friday he walked twenty miles home to take care of his farm. Brother Moyle was injured in an accident and his leg had to be removed, but he made himself a wooden leg. He practiced walking on the leg until he could endure the pain it caused. Then he walked on his wooden leg to Salt Lake City to continue working on the temple. He carved the words Holiness to the Lord on the east side of the temple. Kirtland Temple Exterior Finish: Sandstone stuccoed with plaster. Total Floor Area: 15,000 square feet. (took almost 3 years to build) Dedication: 27 March 1836 by Joseph Smith (175 years ago) Temple Facts The Kirtland Temple was the first temple erected in this dispensation. The early Saints referred to the Kirtland Temple as simply the "Lord's House," as the term temple was not in general use at the time. Log construction was proposed for the Kirtland Temple in early discussions. The ordinances received in the Kirtland Temple were only a partial endowment. The full endowment would not be received until the Saints settled in Nauvoo. Two years after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the Saints had largely abandoned Kirtland, and the temple became the venue of both private worship and public function. For a short time, the upper floors hosted a variety of public events while the basement was used to keep farm animals. The temple was later leased for many years as a public school. In 1880, the Community of Christ reestablished ownership of the Kirtland Temple, and the building was restored as closely as possible to its original condition. Almost all the men who could work and who were not away on missions helped build the temple. Many people worked on the temple every day. Because they were giving all their available money to build the temple, sometimes the workers did not have very much food or nice clothing to wear. Daniel Tyler recalled: “How often have I seen those humble, faithful servants of the Lord, after toiling all day in the quarry, or on the building, when the walls were in [the] course of erection, weary and faint, yet with cheerful countenances, retiring to their homes with a few pounds of corn meal that had been donated. And, in the case of those who lacked a cow to give a little milk, the corn meal was sometimes, for days together, all that they and their families had to subsist upon. When a little flour, butter or meat came in, they were luxuries. Sometimes a little … molasses … would be donated, but oftener the hands had to seek a job elsewhere to get a gallon or so, and then return to the labor on the temple” (quoted in Karl Ricks Anderson, Joseph Smith’s Kirtland: Eyewitness Accounts, p. 161). Church members had to protect the temple from mobs trying to destroy it. Some men got very little sleep because they worked on building the temple during the day and then sat up guarding the temple with their guns at night. The members of the Church collected broken dishes and glass to be put in the plaster so that the temple would be more beautiful. When the temple was finished, the plaster on the outside of the temple sparkled when the sun shone upon it. .