While in Salt Lake City this afternoon, I managed to fit in a visit to Temple Square for a couple of hours. It's always fun to visit the center place of Mormonism (which is a rather different category than "sacred ground" or "holy site"). I browsed through the South Visitors Center and its exhibits showing how massive granite blocks were hammered, drilled, and blasted out of Little Cottonwood Canyon, then transported twenty miles by wagon (later, railroad) to the site of the LDS temple. Just across the street, the Museum of Church History and Art has a temporary exhibit showing the details of the construction of the Tabernacle, which went through several architectural upgrades before attaining the fine sound quality offered by the rounded dome design.
The temple itself is now surrounded by taller and larger buildings: the new Conference Center to the north, the Church Office Building and LDS campus to the east, commercial buildings to south. But I think it is fair to say that it still manages to be the focal building for the area. The Main Street Plaza gives the building more visibility than it previously had.
For those not familiar with the history of LDS temples, while the Salt Lake temple gets most of the media attention, it was not the first LDS temple. The first was in Kirtland, Ohio (still standing, but owned and operated by the Community of Christ, not the LDS Church); the second was in Nauvoo, Illinois (burned by vandals after Mormons were forced to flee Nauvoo in early 1846); the third was in St. George, Utah, completed and dedicated in 1877. The Salt Lake temple was not completed until 1893.
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Dave,
The early temples of the church stand as monuments to the dedication of a group of people who consecrated everything they had to building the kingdom of God. The sweat and blood of my ancestors, among many others. But not all of the early Mormons were direct participants in the temple construction projects. Alexander Neibaur, an early church convert and resident of Nauvoo during erection of the temple there, was excused from routine work assignment on the temple building project because, as the family anecdote goes, he was "too puny" to be helpful in carrying out any strenuous work. Instead, he continued to practice his skill as a dentist, a much-needed service during that day. He conducted his practice in the parlor of Brigham Young's Nauvoo home for a time, and even fashioned several sets of dentures for Brigham Young.
If you are not up to helping to build a temple, perhaps a set of false teeth?
This is in response to the post by Jim Cobabe re: Alexander Neibaur. I am a decedent of Alexander Neibaur & thought I would share a few additional facts. I have not done extensive research but in the family we claim that he was the first Jew to join the LDS Church. In addition to Brigham Young, he also did dental work for Joseph Smith. He may not have worked on the temple but many who did undoubtedly appreciated doing so without the distraction of a painful tooth ache. His dental tools are on display at the Pioneer Memorial Museum (300 N. Main, SLC, UT). In 2000 we had a Orval & Edith Gruwell family reunion in Nauvoo. (Edith Moon Gruwell is our connection to Alexander.) The property where he lived in Nauvoo had become a baseball field in a park. We went there for a Kodak moment at the exact site of his house but a friendly argument ensued as to whether the house had been locate at home plate or left field. It was hot so I yelled for everyone gather in the shade of an oak tree for the group photo and a good time was had by all. What a blessing to have faithful pioneer ancestors!
Hi,
My paternal grandmother was a Breakell and their family came from Lancs too; Preston even. Do you have much Breakell genealogy? I would be interested to hear about any if there is a connection.
Jean
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