REXBURG, IDAHO - Mormon Temple
Announcement of the Rexburg Idaho Mormon Temple took place on December 20, 2003 by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is the 129th Temple announced by the Mormon Church.
Rexburg, Idaho has always been a small college town with the Church owned School of Ricks College being the center point. The School began in 1888 as Bannock Stake Academy; changed to Fremont Stake Academy in 1898; and then to Ricks College in 1903 (named after Thomas E. Ricks founder of Rexburg, Idaho).
Ricks College was a well-established two-year college and continued on until 2000, when the First Presidency of the Mormon Church announced that Ricks College would become four year Brigham Young University-Idaho. Consequently the enrollment at the university increased dramatically from 8,949 in 2000 to 12,000 in 2006.
Those who wanted to attend the Temple would need to travel 30 miles to the Idaho Falls Temple, and it became increasingly difficult to make the trip for many of the students attending Ricks College, due to funds and transportation. Needless to say, with the announcement of the Temple, many were ecstatic and looked forward to a Temple in their midst.
Groundbreaking for the Temple took place July 2005. Construction began and continues to progress at a steady pace (June 2006). The 57,000 square foot, five-story edifice will be the highest building on the BYU-I’s campus. A single steeple will rise 168 feet and will be crowned with the gold-leafed statue of the Angel Moroni. Adorning the land between the Temple and the Church building, which sits to the West, will be a garden plaza as well as a parking lot to the South.
As with all Mormon Temples, the need to provide easy access to the Temple is a concern. The city of Rexburg requested $1.2 million from the federal government in which to build a road that would provide a direct route to campus and to the Rexburg Temple. The request was approved and was also increased to nearly $3 million.
When the construction is complete, there will be an open house scheduled for all to attend. Following the open house, the Rexburg Temple will be officially dedicated and used only for worthy members of the Mormon Church to attend and perform marriages, baptisms and sacred ordinances intended to provide eternal family relationships.
For more information about the Mormon Church or Mormon Temples, please see the following websites: