The Salt Lake Temple Dedication

After 40 years of working to build the Salt Lake Temple, many Saints attended the first dedication session on 6 April 1893. Forty more dedication services took place during the next two weeks. In all, 75,000 Saints attended!

The weather was cold and stormy on the first dedication day, but everyone inside the temple felt peace and warmth. Several people saw angels or heard them singing. Others felt that light was streaming into the room, even though dark clouds and falling snow could be seen through the windows.

President Woodruff later said, “If the eyes of the congregation could be opened they would [have] seen Joseph and Hyrum [Smith], Brigham Young, John Taylor, and all the good men who had lived in this dispensation assembled with us, as also … all the Holy Prophets and Apostles who had prophesied of the latter day work. … They were rejoicing with us in this building which had been accepted of the Lord.”

The Saints had sacrificed their time, money, and talents to build a temple strong enough to last through the Millennium. In return, Heavenly Father blessed them with marvelous spiritual blessings inside His house.

(See “‘The Power of God Was with Us,’”Ensign, Mar. 1993, 28–31.)