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Vernal temple doors open to public

Converted and expanded from a pioneer-era tabernacle, the newest temple of the Lord is a brick-and-mortar reminder of Malachi's prophecy that in the last days the hearts of the children would turn to their fathers. (See Mal. 4:5-6; D&C 2.)

The first temple in the Church to be built from an existing structure, the Vernal Utah Temple is a monument to the dedication of Latter-day Saints who built the Uintah Tabernacle from 1900 to 1907, as well as being a sacred edifice where ordinances of salvation will be performed for the living and the dead.A pre-dedication open house at what will be the Church's 51st operating temple, located in the heart of this eastern Utah city of 7,900, commenced Oct. 9 with a series of guided tours for news media representatives, government officials, business and education leaders and area clergy.

The weather was clear and sunny that day but had turned blustery and rainy before Saturday, Oct. 11, the first day of general public tours. Even so, more than 15,000 visitors toured the new edifice through the day. Covered by a protective awning, a serpentine line of people stretched from the adjacent Vernal Utah Glines Stake Center to the temple entrance until the last tour at 9:30 p.m.

Open house tours continue through Oct. 25 except Sundays. Gayle McKeachnie, vice chairman of the dedication and open house committee, said 120,000 tickets had been requested as of the opening date and that Saturday tours were full, but tickets were still available for weekdays. They may be obtained by calling 781-1611 in the Vernal area and 1-888-216-5844 outside the area.

Beginning in the stake center, open house visitors view an exhibit and watch a film about the purpose of temples. They then proceed to the temple, where they see the baptistry, laundry, dressing rooms, administrative offices, two ordinance rooms (temple patrons will progress from one ordinance room to the other for each endowment session), three sealing rooms, a bride's room and the celestial room, all comprising 33,000 square feet of floor space in a basement and two above-ground levels.

Unprecedented as it is, converting an existing structure into a temple presented significant challenges to architects and builders. The entire tabernacle interior was removed and ground beneath it excavated to make way for the characteristic features of a temple.

"The building literally was just four walls by the time construction started," observed Elder Ben B. Banks of the Seventy, who serves as temple committee chairman and president of the Utah South Area.

"That's right," agreed Roger Jackson, chief architect with FFKR in Salt Lake City, the firm that designed the new temple. "The walls are four bricks thick. We actually took off the inside layer of brick and did some reinforcing to the entire building and left just the four walls and part of the roof. The original roof was made of hand-sawn, thick, huge, timber trusses. We thought we could save them, so the roof trusses stayed, but the rest of the roof came down, and then we built on to the roof trusses. So basically, we kept the outside and built a new building inside."

Compliance with specifications for room size and arrangement required some give and take, he noted. "That's why there's an addition on the east of the building, new construction to help make everything fit."

The project included additional brick, some dating from the time of the tabernacle's construction, and some manufactured to match the original.

Some of the period brick came from a house in the community that belonged to Nick Megher (pronounced "Marr"), not a member of the Church. He donated the house, vacant at the time, for use in the temple's construction, but unfortunately died before it was completed.

"From samples, it was determined fairly accurately that the brick in this house came from the same kiln as the brick used to build the tabernacle, Abner N. Swain Brickworks," said Kathi Irving, Vernal Temple historian. "The brick was made from local red clay. The amazing thing is that back then it took 100 cords of wood to keep the kiln at peak heat for the three days it took to bake the adobes into bricks."

Sister Irving said 1,128 people donated more than 5,000 hours to dismantle the house and salvage 16,000 bricks for the temple. "We had members of the Church from all over the place involved, including a youth group from Salt Lake," she said.

Some of the salvaged brick was used in a gate on the west end of the temple, the historic entrance to the tabernacle. Some was used to replace cracked and chipped bricks on the temple facade.

The theme of adaptive re-use seems to pervade the temple's construction and fixtures. The characteristic 12 sculpted oxen that bear the temple's baptismal font on their backs were part of an exhibit in the South Visitors Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The oxen had been in storage since the visitors center was remodeled three years ago.

Some of the benches from the old tabernacle were refurbished for use in the temple's chapel.

And a stained-glass window on the east wall of the temple, depicting the Savior surrounded by a flock of sheep and holding a lamb, has a history of its own. Sister Irving said it was made originally for the Mt. Olivet Methodist Episcopal Church of Hollywood, Calif., in the 1920s. The LDS Church bought the building in 1937 and used it as a meetinghouse until the early 1990s. The window had been in storage since the building was demolished.

The tabernacle originally had a window on the east side, but it had been bricked in. The brick was removed for placement of the stained-glass window. Sister Irving said artist Willie Littig created an 11-piece art-glass frame that complements the window and is consistent with art glass elsewhere in the temple.

Other distinctive features of the temple:

Furniture built in the style of the early 1900s, when the tabernacle was constructed.

Walls in several rooms are hand-painted with decorative patterns appropriate to the area, such as sego lillies and wheat stocks.

Original paintings by artists Valoy Eaton, David Ahrnsbrak, A.D. Shaw, Richard Murray and Chad Hawkins depict scenes in the area.

Two domed towers on opposite ends of the building, the top of the west tower being 80 feet from the ground, the east 98 feet with a gold-leafed statue of the Angel Moroni. The towers replicate the tabernacle's original tower, which has been placed as a gazebo-like ornament in a nearby park.

Original trees on the property complemented with new vegetation and a wrought-iron fence featuring brick pilasters.

Latter-day Saints have lived in eastern Utah's Ashley Valley, which includes Vernal, since 1877, the first ones having been sent there by President John Taylor at the behest of Thomas Bingham, whose family became the vanguard for other settlers. The Uintah Stake was created in 1886, and in 1900, work commenced on the tabernacle, taking seven years to complete.

When President Joseph F. Smith dedicated the tabernacle in August 1907, he said he "would not be surprised if a temple were built here some day." Conversion of the tabernacle into a temple is a remarkable fulfillment of his prophecy.

"The building . . . was a wonderful meeting place . . . for all types of events that were held here in the valley," Elder Banks said. "But then eventually when this [the Glines] stake center was built, the tabernacle was not as widely used. And as time went on it became even less used and was largely abandoned. Then in the 1980s, it was determined the structure of the building was not safe . . . and it started to deteriorate very badly. But a decision was made by the First Presidency that the building should be made into a temple for the Saints out here in the Unitah Basin."

Accordingly, ground was broken for the project May 13, 1995.

The temple district includes 14 stakes: four in Vernal; three in Roosevelt, Utah; two in Grand Junction, Colo.; and one each in Duchesne and Altamont, Utah; Green River, Wyo.; Rock Springs, Wyo.; and Meeker, Colo.

Vice chairman McKeachnie said more than 25,000 Church members from the temple district are assisting as volunteers with the open house. That is more than three times the population of Vernal, Sister Irving noted.

Brother McKeachnie said the temple has been well received in the community. He quoted Vernal Mayor Leonard E. Heeney, who is not a member of the Church, as saying, "One thing about it: those 100,000-plus people coming to see the temple will all be good people."

Temple Pres. Alva C. Snow, whose wife Jean Olsen Snow will serve with him as temple matron, said he has interviewed many prospective temple workers. "I can think of probably a dozen families who are either moving here or who have just recently moved here primarily because of the temple. And I think that's just a drop in the bucket."

The temple will be dedicated Nov. 2-4 in 11 dedicatory sessions.

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