President Gordon B. Hinckley, world leader of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
 presided at groundbreaking services on Sunday
afternoon to initiate reconstruction of the Nauvoo
Illinois Temple.  President Hinckley announced on
Easter Sunday of this year that this unique
historical restoration “will stand as a memorial
to those who built the first such structure there
on the banks of the Mississippi.”

The original Nauvoo Temple was built at great
sacrifice by faithful Latter-day Saints living on
the American frontier in the early 1840s.
When forced by religious persecution to flee
Nauvoo in 1846, devoted Church members
looked back lovingly and longingly upon their
“City Beautiful” with its magnificent temple
rising high on a bluff above the Mississippi
River.  The temple had served as a focal point
of worship and faith for those early Saints
who viewed the building as a sacred “House
of the Lord.”

Left unprotected, the temple was looted and
partially destroyed by an arsonist's torch in
October, 1848.  Weakened by fire, the
remaining structure was essentially leveled
by an 1850 tornado that left all but the west
wall of the building in ruins.

For the nearly 11 million Latter-day Saints
in the world today, the reconstructed Nauvoo
Illinois Temple will be, once again, a sacred
“House of the Lord” where families can be
united for eternity.  It will serve also as a
constant reminder of the sacrifice and hardships
of those pioneering Church members who,
while in Nauvoo, built not only a beautiful
temple but there strengthened the foundations
of a faith that has become one of the fastest
growing Christian religions in the world today.


The groundbreaking ceremony held on 24 October 1999, was attended by over 5000
people, both members and non-members of the Church. Dignitaries from the City Council, Planning Commission, and Chamber of Commerce members were present. Mayor Tom Wilson was the guest of President and Sister Hinckley on the stand. A large number of attendees filled the3.5 acre block Temple block site to overflowing. Many more lined the area around the site.

President Hinckley addressing Mayor Wilson and the aud that the "building of the temple was the best thing that has happened to Nauvoo in a long time". "Many people will come to visit this temple "and that's become a great worry to you. Don't worry! We'll work it out!," President Hinckley stated to the Mayor. President Hinckley was very humorous during the events and left a wonderful impression on all that were there.

President Hinckley said that the  out side of the temple will be restored as near as possable to the origional t was on the out side using local limestone but the interior will be of a "steel and concrete structure conforming to modern building codes".
The basement (font area) will again have its "red brick tile floor" and the first floor will be an assembly hall as it was originally. The upper floors will be reconfigured to be  utilized as an ordinance areas like as in modern temples elsewhere.

Monday after the groundbreaking, non-members of the Church from Nauvoo that attended the groundbreaking said how much they liked President Hinckley, enjoyed all that they had heard from him.

Groundbreaking shovel given to the Ceder Rapids, Iowa Stake President

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Nauvoo Internet News
by Fred Cote'
19 December  1999