When The St. George Temple Was Built It Had No Interior Walls

This old temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints recently go a make over and it looks older inside than it did before the update. The St George Temple goes back to 1871 for the groundbreaking by Brigham Young and was dedicated by Erastus Snow in 1877.  

The Outside Looked Like 1871 While the inside Reflected 1970

When I used to visit the temple, I wondered why it didn’t have the look and feel on the inside of the era it was built. Why didn’t it look like the Logan, Manti and Salt Lake temples that it proceeded.

Those three temples have intricate decorations from that pioneer time that makes it feel like you are stepping into the past. The light fixtures, crowning, and especially the murals in the three pioneer temples feel to me like walking in Victorian age castle.  

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The temple in St George had none of this feel. The walls were mostly unadorned, and the murals painted on the walls looked to be from a later time. Overall, the inside of the temple did not give the impression it was built in the 1800’s and had a much more modern feel. 

A Building Without Inside Walls

It wasn’t until I was speaking with former Mayor Dan McArthur about his family’s experience with the temple going back to his grandfathers, that it helped me understand why there was a difference. 

The St. George temple was designed like the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples. It had an assembly hall on the top floor and the lower area was left open, being divided by curtains. These dividers extended from the ceiling and were used to partition the room for the temple ceremonies.  

Read More: New Pageant Coming to Manti Next Year

Permanent walls were not put into the lower section until 1937. In 1975 the temple was remodeled again with the progressive rooms remade into three endowment rooms that could use a film rather than the live performance of the endowment.

The remodel of the temple has given it walls that match better with the outside. The chandeliers and furnishings were carefully chosen to reflect an earlier time an still provide current technology.