The St. George Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will close on Nov. 4 for renovations.
According to Newsroom, renovation will be extensive and include “structural, mechanical, electrical, finish and plumbing work.”
During the October 2018 general conference, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to renovate the Salt Lake Temple and other pioneer-era temples as well as plans to build 12 new temples.
In 1871, President Brigham Young announced a temple would be built in St. George, although at the time only 1,100 Latter-day Saints lived there and were in extreme poverty. The St. George Utah Temple was the first temple to be completed in Utah and was originally dedicated in 1877 — a decade and a half before the Salt Lake Temple dedication in 1893.
Temples in Logan and Manti followed the dedication of the St. George Temple in 1884 and 1888 respectively.
According to Elder Bruce C. Hafen, former president of the St. George Temple and an emeritus General Authority Seventy, the building was one of the most important in this dispensation (in addition to the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples), helping to bring about the restoration of priesthood keys and ordinances. It was in the St. George Temple that temple ordinances were “put into a written form for the first time,” according to a Church News article.
Renovations to the St. George Utah Temple are expected to be completed in 2022.
In July 2018, the St. George Tabernacle was rededicated by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles after a two-year renovation. At the time of the rededication, the building, which was originally dedicated just prior to the temple in 1876, was nearly 150 years old.
The Cedar City Temple, dedicated by President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency on Dec. 10, 2017, is the nearest temple to the St. George Temple, some 50 miles away.
