Review
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Title: Provo’s Two Temples
Authors: Richard O. Cowan & Justin R. Bray
Publisher: BYU Religious Studies Center,In cooperation with Deseret Book
Genre: Church History
Year Published: 2015
Number of Pages: 364
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN13: 978-0-8425-2965-5
Price: $29.99
Reviewed By Trudy Thompson for the Association For Mormon Letters
Almost from the beginning, Latter-day Saints have been a temple-building and temple-attending people. For them, temples are more than ordinary meetinghouses; each temple is truly seen as the House of the Lord. Since Old Testament times, temples have served two major functions: they have been places of revelation between God and man, and they are places where sacred ordinances are performed and faithful members enter into covenants with God.
The early members of the church in Kirtland, Ohio overcame poverty and persecution to build their first temple in the mid 1830s. The Kirtland Temple, however, had no facilities for temple ordinances. Instead, the building consisted of two large meeting halls, one above the other.
While the second temple of the church was being built in Nauvoo, Illinois, the true purpose of temples and the endowment ceremony to be performed in them was revealed. After the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Saints abandoned their beautiful new temple, and made their well-known trek to the Rocky Mountains, under the leadership of Brigham Young.
Within a few days of arriving in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young had selected the temple site. Over the next forty years, while the Salt Lake Temple was under construction, three other temples in Utah were completed. The first one in St. George, Utah, saw the beginning of baptisms for the dead. This ordinance had not been performed in the previous two temples. The Logan and Manti, Utah temples were dedicated before the Salt Lake Temple was finished.
The authors of this new book have provided a detailed and thorough description of not only the newly constructed Provo City Center Temple, but also the history and little known stories of the first temple in Provo.
In the 1860’s Brigham Young purportedly climbed a hill on the southwest corner of the upper campus of Brigham Young University, and declared, “You are now standing on holy ground, and the day will come when a magnificent temple will be erected here to our God.” As a result, this area became known as Temple Hill, and members of the church anxiously anticipated a temple in Utah Valley.
It was not until August 14, 1967, that it was announced at a meeting attended by the stake presidencies of twenty-eight stakes in the Provo area, that Provo would finally have their own temple. Originally, there were two sites proposed for the new temple – one next to what was the tabernacle, and the other on the site where the first Provo Temple still stands. After many meetings and much discussion, the site was finally chosen and the temple was dedicated on February 9, 1972.
The history and stories of the old Provo Tabernacle, the subsequent fire and destruction in December of 2010, and the announcement in October of 2011 to rebuild the tabernacle as a temple, are all covered in detail with accompanying pictures, drawings, charts and timelines. (Other books, previously reviewed, have covered these aspects of the conversion of the tabernacle into a temple.) A large number of photos of the fire and subsequent damage to the various parts of the tabernacle are included. An even greater number of photos of the reconstruction process are include with detailed architectural descriptions of what was necessary to shore up the exiting structure in order to convert it into a Temple.
One of the stories that moved local residents the most from the gut-wrenching fire ordeal, came about two days later at the old Tabernacle, on a Saturday afternoon. The fire was still smoldering in places, but firemen were finally able to enter the building cautiously to inspect the damage done and look for additional hot spots. Upon entering the building, the firemen noticed a painting that had been hanging in the foyer for many years. Harry Anderson’s painting, The Second Coming, was among the charred rubble. The wall that the picture had hung on was completely destroyed, but there leaning up against the rubble was the painting, with the frame still intact. The actual painting itself was charred, except for the exact outline of Jesus Christ himself. Many people saw it as a miracle that this meaningful piece of art was rescued at Christmas time. The fact that the absolute smallest picture in the book is of the charred remains of the painting is surprising. To this reviewer, It will be of far more interest to the average reader than the accompanying architectural detail and the abundance of photos of the reconstruction process.
There are many interesting and little known tidbits in the book. Among them was the fact that they used ground penetrating radar to map the precise location of the foundation of the first Provo Tabernacle. Radio waves beamed into the ground produced echoes, which were picked up by special antenna. A computer analysis of these echos allowed researchers to identify even specific features of the buried building.
The entire stone foundation was uncovered as the excavations reached several feet below ground. The foundation consisted of limestone walls four feet thick and at least five feet deep. As archaeology students from BYU helped sift through the soil, they found nails, coins, buttons, clothing, brooches, toys, bottles, horseshoes, a gold ring, a slate, comb and a fountain pen.
Interesting, too, was the fact that in order to save the undamaged outside walls of the tabernacle, contractors had to resort to an unusual technique that had only been used twice before in the entire world! What looked like the tabernacle being suspended in the air on stilts, was actually the excavation process of digging down twenty five feet under ground to begin work on what was to become the two basement levels of the temple. The tabernacle was never moved in the process, but a complicated system of steel reinforced beams, girdings and piles, concrete and shotcrete, were placed underneath the exiting walls to provide stability and safety for the workers and the structure itself. This had been done once in Italy and once in France, and then only with much smaller buildings and only one story down instead of two. Laser beams aimed at small targets on the walls in numerous locations around the structure recorded even the slightest movement. Even the slightest shift in heating caused by the morning and afternoon sun was detected, and monitored constantly.
There are numerous other stories centering around what the construction workers found in the old structure, as well as miracles uncovered in what was salvageable enough to be used in the newly built temple. Throughout it all the original design and construction was painstakingly preserved as well as many original elements. I am told by those who have gone through the Temple Open House that they have even replicated much of the old wallpaper and fabrics used in the original structure.
This extensive volume is divided into two parts. The first part consists of seven chapters covering the old Provo Temple, its announcement, construction, dedication and operations. The second part covers the Provo Tabernacle, the fire, the investigation and testing of the damage, and the ultimate construction of the Provo City Center Temple. Also included are seven appendices to the book. These sections include such things as several pages of large color photos of both Provo Temples, a timeline of church history events and milestones in the Provo, Utah area, the dedicatory address and prayer of the original Provo Temple, and a listing of its Temple Presidents, Matrons, and Counselors. The biographies of the presidents are also included.
Anyone wanting a thorough and comprehensive volume of both Provo Temples would find this book a delight. I can’t imagine a more expansive volume being done. All the reader would need to do is to place a copy of the Dedicatory Prayer in this volume, after the dedication takes place in March of this year.