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Nauvoo Temple
The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States, in 1836. In the winter of 1846, when the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, the church attempted to sell the building, finally succeeding in 1848. The building was damaged by arson and a tornado before being demolished.
In 1937, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) reacquired the lot on which the original temple had stood. In 2000, the church began to build a temple on the same site with an exterior that is a replica of the original, but whose interior is laid out like a modern Latter-day Saint temple. On June 27, 2002, a date that coincided with the 158th anniversary of the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the temple was dedicated by the LDS Church as the Nauvoo Illinois Temple.
The Latter Day Saints made preparations to build a temple soon after establishing their headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1839. The 4-acre land for the temple was purchased in late 1840, for $1,100. On April 6, 1841, the temple's cornerstone was laid under the direction of Joseph Smith, the church's founder and president; 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 weathervane 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 church members 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 architect William Weeks, under the direction of Joseph Smith. Weeks became disaffected from the church in 1847 and Truman O. Angell later took his place as the primary architect. His 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 Latter Day Saint 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". 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 Joseph Smith died in 1844. After a succession crisis, Brigham Young was sustained as the church's leader by the majority of Latter Day Saints 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, so portions of it could be used for ordinances, 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 endowment, sealings, 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 dedicated in private services on April 30, 1846, and in public services on 1 May. In September 1846, the remaining Latter Day Saints 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 March 11, 1848, the church's agents sold the building to David T. LeBaron, for $5,000. Finally, the New York Home Missionary Society expressed interest in leasing the building as a school, but around midnight on October 8–9, 1848, the temple was set on fire by an unknown arsonist. Nauvoo's residents attempted to put out the fire, but the temple was gutted. James J. Strang, leader of the Strangite faction of Latter Day Saints, accused Young's agents of setting fire to the temple. However, Strang's charges were never proven. On April 2, 1849, LeBaron sold the damaged temple to Étienne Cabet for $2,000. Cabet, whose followers were called Icarians, hoped to establish Nauvoo as a communistic utopia.
After the fire of October 9, 1848, only the four exterior walls remained standing. Cabet and his followers began clearing rubble and trying to reconstruct the interior of the temple; however, on May 27, 1850, Nauvoo was struck by a major tornado which toppled one of the walls onto eight stonemasons. One source claimed the storm seemed to "single out the Temple", felling "the walls with a roar that was heard miles away". Cabet ordered the demolition of two more walls in the interests of public safety, leaving only the façade standing. The Icarians used much of the temple's stone to build a new school building on the southwest corner of the temple lot. By 1857, however, most of Cabet's followers had left Nauvoo and over time many of the original stones for the temple were used in the construction of other buildings throughout Hancock County. In February 1865, Nauvoo's City Council ordered the final demolition of the last standing portion of the temple—one lone corner of the façade. Soon afterwards, all evidence of the temple disappeared, except for a hand pump over a well that supplied water to the baptismal font. Three of the original sunstones are known to have survived and are on display—one is on loan to the LDS Church's visitors' center in Nauvoo, one is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the third and only one that has not been restored is displayed, along with the only moonstone on display, at the Joseph Smith Historic Center of the Community of Christ.
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Nauvoo Temple
The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States, in 1836. In the winter of 1846, when the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, the church attempted to sell the building, finally succeeding in 1848. The building was damaged by arson and a tornado before being demolished.
In 1937, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) reacquired the lot on which the original temple had stood. In 2000, the church began to build a temple on the same site with an exterior that is a replica of the original, but whose interior is laid out like a modern Latter-day Saint temple. On June 27, 2002, a date that coincided with the 158th anniversary of the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the temple was dedicated by the LDS Church as the Nauvoo Illinois Temple.
The Latter Day Saints made preparations to build a temple soon after establishing their headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1839. The 4-acre land for the temple was purchased in late 1840, for $1,100. On April 6, 1841, the temple's cornerstone was laid under the direction of Joseph Smith, the church's founder and president; 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 weathervane 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 church members 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 architect William Weeks, under the direction of Joseph Smith. Weeks became disaffected from the church in 1847 and Truman O. Angell later took his place as the primary architect. His 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 Latter Day Saint 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". 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 Joseph Smith died in 1844. After a succession crisis, Brigham Young was sustained as the church's leader by the majority of Latter Day Saints 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, so portions of it could be used for ordinances, 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 endowment, sealings, 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 dedicated in private services on April 30, 1846, and in public services on 1 May. In September 1846, the remaining Latter Day Saints 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 March 11, 1848, the church's agents sold the building to David T. LeBaron, for $5,000. Finally, the New York Home Missionary Society expressed interest in leasing the building as a school, but around midnight on October 8–9, 1848, the temple was set on fire by an unknown arsonist. Nauvoo's residents attempted to put out the fire, but the temple was gutted. James J. Strang, leader of the Strangite faction of Latter Day Saints, accused Young's agents of setting fire to the temple. However, Strang's charges were never proven. On April 2, 1849, LeBaron sold the damaged temple to Étienne Cabet for $2,000. Cabet, whose followers were called Icarians, hoped to establish Nauvoo as a communistic utopia.
After the fire of October 9, 1848, only the four exterior walls remained standing. Cabet and his followers began clearing rubble and trying to reconstruct the interior of the temple; however, on May 27, 1850, Nauvoo was struck by a major tornado which toppled one of the walls onto eight stonemasons. One source claimed the storm seemed to "single out the Temple", felling "the walls with a roar that was heard miles away". Cabet ordered the demolition of two more walls in the interests of public safety, leaving only the façade standing. The Icarians used much of the temple's stone to build a new school building on the southwest corner of the temple lot. By 1857, however, most of Cabet's followers had left Nauvoo and over time many of the original stones for the temple were used in the construction of other buildings throughout Hancock County. In February 1865, Nauvoo's City Council ordered the final demolition of the last standing portion of the temple—one lone corner of the façade. Soon afterwards, all evidence of the temple disappeared, except for a hand pump over a well that supplied water to the baptismal font. Three of the original sunstones are known to have survived and are on display—one is on loan to the LDS Church's visitors' center in Nauvoo, one is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the third and only one that has not been restored is displayed, along with the only moonstone on display, at the Joseph Smith Historic Center of the Community of Christ.