Columbia South Carolina Temple Wiki

The Columbia South Carolina Temple was announced on 11 September 1998, by the First Presidency — consisting of President Gordon B. Hinckley, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust.

At the groundbreaking of the Columbia South Carolina Temple held on 5 December 1998, Elder Gordon T. Watts of the Seventy said, “As the contractors and building people prepare and begin construction, let us also begin a program of personal construction that we will be as exemplary as this beautiful temple when it is completed. If changes are required in your life to gain entrance into the temple, let us begin now.” ^[3]“News of the Church,” Ensign, Mar. 1999, 75.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Columbia South Carolina Temple was held on the same day as the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Temple.

Before the South Carolina temple was dedicated about 20,000 people walked through it during an open house held 30 September–9 October 1999.

At the temple open house, Deputy Chief of Staff Michael LeFever attended in place of Governor James Hodges, who was busy assessing damage caused by Hurricane Floyd. The deputy chief, whose daughter took piano lessons from a Church member, said he would look at a picture of the temple in the home while waiting for his daughter. He noted the family’s growing excitement and never dreamed he would eventually get a VIP tour of the building. The governor wrote a personal letter, which the deputy chief read, commending Church members for their hard work in making the temple a reality.^[4]Linda Franklin-Moore, “South Carolina temple opens for tours,” Church News 2 Oct. 1999: 7.

The temple was dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley in six sessions from October 16 to 17, 1999. In addition to President Hinckley, other Church leaders — apostles Dallin H. Oaks and M. Russell Ballard and Church leader Monte J. Brough — also took turns speaking. In the dedicatory prayer, President Hinckley asked that “the very presence of this Thy house will have a sanctifying influence upon the people of this area, and particularly upon those who enter its portals.”^[5]Columbia South Carolina Temple dedicatory prayer, in Church News, Oct. 23, 1999,

The morning of their scheduled dedication session, Mark and Judy Wilcox of the Hendersonville Ward, Asheville North Carolina Stake, learned that their son, Brad, had been killed the previous evening in a car accident. Sister Wilcox, who was to sing at the dedication that day, chose to sing as planned after she and her husband received priesthood blessings. The Wilcoxes found a great deal of comfort in the words directed to them by President Gordon B. Hinckley about the Plan of Salvation and the teachings of the temple. ^[6]R. Scott Loyd, “New temple in a ‘place of history,'” Church News 23 Oct. 1999: 3.

The temple is located in a beautifully wooded neighborhood in southeastern Columbia, South Carolina’s capital. The lovely residential area is scattered with well-kept homes and churches. Native loblolly pine and oak surround the temple, which is landscaped with crape myrtle, large holly, mums, and dogwood trees, reflecting the area’s natural flora.^[7]R. Scott Loyd, “New temple in a ‘place of history,'” Church News 23 Oct. 1999: 3. The temple stands on property the Church purchased more than 20 years before plans to build the temple were announced.

The 3.6-acre site is landscaped with trees and flowers native to the area, including dogwoods, crape myrtles and mums. The temple grounds are surrounded by a white fence with a circular design on the upper rails.

Its design matches dozens of temples constructed in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a part of the Church’s effort to bring temples closer to as many Church members as possible.

Cladding

The exterior of the temple is white marble from Vermont.

Windows

The Temple features art glass windows in sets of three around the Temple exterior.