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Three years after a temple was announced for Rexburg, Idaho, on Dec. 12, 2003, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited the town’s Brigham Young University–Idaho.
In an end-of-semester convocation address given Dec. 20, 2006, Elder Holland said: “When the Prophet Joseph Smith drew the plans for the ideal city of Zion, ... he conceived such a city as being anchored by two great symbolic structures: a temple and a university — a house of covenant and a house of learning, two institutions dedicated to the exalting of the human soul.”
The Apostle continued, “BYU–Idaho and its host environment here in southeastern Idaho becomes the newest of the Lord’s experiments in attempting to create yet again a kind of Zion, or at least the newest opportunity to show how the whole soul is edified when a temple and a university join hands to bless a very fortunate student community.”
This “house of covenant” was welcomed openly by residents and students — including 13,000 international students — in the college town, at the time with a Latter-day Saint population of 95%. More hours were even scheduled for each day of the public open house of the temple due to an unexpected turnout of more than 10,000 visitors on the first day.
Amid nearby snow fields and temperatures in the 30s, the Rexburg Idaho Temple was dedicated in four sessions by President Thomas S. Monson on Feb. 10, 2008. Once dedicated, the temple served approximately 47,000 Latter-day Saints in southeastern Idaho, including the cities of Rexburg, Sugar City, St. Anthony, Ashton and Driggs.
President Monson, who was ordained as Church President seven days prior, was joined at the ceremony by then-Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Bednar had previously served as president of BYU–Idaho from 1997 to 2004, including when the temple was announced in 2003.
Darlene French of the Ashton 3rd Ward, Ashton Idaho Stake, said construction of a house of the Lord was the “most wonderful thing that could’ve happened to this valley.” She and her husband, Douglas, began serving as temple workers in the Rexburg temple in April 2008.
Kathy Webb of Rexburg, whose home faced the temple’s south side, said, “We love the feeling we get when we see it out our window. In the middle of the night when it’s still and quiet, it stands as a beacon on the hill.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “Many not of our faith have previously visited this building. May they reflect on their experience with reverence and appreciation. May they be led, as Thou hast promised, to acknowledge that this is indeed Thy house. ... May Thy faithful Saints of this and future generations look to this temple as a sanctuary and a place of service to Thee and to Thy children.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Rexburg Idaho Temple here.
The First Presidency — then consisting of President Gordon B. Hinckley, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust — announced a house of the Lord for Rexburg, Idaho, on Dec. 12, 2003, in a letter to local priesthood leaders.
Ground was broken for the Rexburg Idaho Temple on July 30, 2005, with Elder John H. Groberg of the Presidency of the Seventy presiding. An estimated 8,000 residents and students from nearby Brigham Young University–Idaho attended the ceremony.
The public was invited to tour the temple from Dec. 29, 2007, to Jan. 26, 2008. More than 200,000 visitors attended the open house during this time.
Around 2,000 children, youth and young single adults performed in a cultural celebration — titled “Come to God’s Own Temple, Come” — on Feb. 9, 2008, in the Hart Auditorium at BYU–Idaho to honor the history of the Church of Jesus Christ in the region. This history included a prophecy from President Wilford Woodruff — fourth President of the Church — prophesying that Church meetinghouses and temples would be built in the upper Snake River Valley.
Newly named Church President Thomas S. Monson dedicated the Rexburg Idaho Temple on Feb. 10, 2008. Although originally planned for Feb. 3, the dedication date was postponed a week due to the death of Church President Gordon B. Hinckley on Jan. 27. More than 7,300 Saints attended one of four dedicatory sessions.
The Rexburg Idaho Temple was announced Dec. 12, 2003, by the First Presidency. A groundbreaking ceremony was held a year and a half later, on July 30, 2005, with Elder John H. Groberg presiding.
After a public open house from Dec. 29, 2007, to Jan. 26, 2008, the Rexburg temple was dedicated on Feb. 10, 2008, by President Thomas S. Monson.
With an area of 57,504 square feet, the Rexburg Idaho Temple stands atop a hill on the south side of Brigham Young University–Idaho. The precast-concrete structure has a white quartz rock finish, with a towering spire above the front entrance. Interior materials include wood trim from Africa, as well as stone and tile from Israel.
Around 700 art-glass windowpanes by Utah artist Tom Holdman can be found throughout the temple, many with a depiction of a wheat stock. Murals by Rexburg native Leon Parson also decorate the interior of the house of the Lord. Standing on a 10-acre site, the structure contains the baptistry, the celestial room, four instruction rooms and five sealing rooms.
12 December 2003
10 February 2008
750 S. Second St. E.
Rexburg, Idaho 83440-5404
United States
View schedule and book online
(1) 208-656-0880
The Rexburg Idaho Temple stands directly south of Brigham Young University–Idaho, which started as Bannock Stake Academy in 1888 and was later expanded into Ricks College in 1923.
Elder John H. Groberg of the Presidency of the Seventy, who presided over the groundbreaking of the Rexburg temple in 2005, began service as the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple president in November of the same year, the month after becoming an emeritus general authority.
The temple open house, originally expected to see 150,000 visitors, saw more than 200,000 attendees. Tour times were extended each day, and group sizes were increased to allow for more visitors.
It was the first Latter-day Saint temple dedicated in Idaho in the 21st century.
The Rexburg temple was originally planned to be dedicated Feb. 3, 2008. However, this date was postponed seven days due to the death of Church President Gordon B. Hinckley on Jan. 27 and President Thomas S. Monson’s subsequent ordination to Church President on Feb. 3.
This was the first house of the Lord dedicated by President Thomas S. Monson as Church President.
When the Rexburg temple was dedicated, around 13,000 international students were attending Brigham Young University–Idaho, many of whom hadn’t had access to a nearby temple in their home country. Area Seventy and BYU-Idaho President Kim B. Clark — later a General Authority Seventy — told the Church News that these international students “can teach their children and their friends and neighbors about the great blessings of the temple and point their children to the temple.”
The Rexburg Idaho Temple stands directly south of Brigham Young University–Idaho, which started as Bannock Stake Academy in 1888 and was later expanded into Ricks College in 1923.
Elder John H. Groberg of the Presidency of the Seventy, who presided over the groundbreaking of the Rexburg temple in 2005, began service as the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple president in November of the same year, the month after becoming an emeritus general authority.
The temple open house, originally expected to see 150,000 visitors, saw more than 200,000 attendees. Tour times were extended each day, and group sizes were increased to allow for more visitors.
It was the first Latter-day Saint temple dedicated in Idaho in the 21st century.
The Rexburg temple was originally planned to be dedicated Feb. 3, 2008. However, this date was postponed seven days due to the death of Church President Gordon B. Hinckley on Jan. 27 and President Thomas S. Monson’s subsequent ordination to Church President on Feb. 3.
This was the first house of the Lord dedicated by President Thomas S. Monson as Church President.
When the Rexburg temple was dedicated, around 13,000 international students were attending Brigham Young University–Idaho, many of whom hadn’t had access to a nearby temple in their home country. Area Seventy and BYU-Idaho President Kim B. Clark — later a General Authority Seventy — told the Church News that these international students “can teach their children and their friends and neighbors about the great blessings of the temple and point their children to the temple.”