Description

The Monticello Utah Temple is the 53rd operating temple and the 11th in Utah. The Monticello Utah Temple serves nearly 13,000 church members in Blanding, Moab, and Monticello, Utah areas and members from Durango, Colorado and Grand Junction, Colorado.

History

Announcement

On 4 October 1997 during the Saturday morning session of the 167th Semiannual General Conference,President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the building of smaller Latter-day Saint temples throughout the world. President Hinckley offered heartfelt words preceding his April 1998 announcement:

“I have been with many who have very little of this world’s goods. … They make tremendous sacrifices to visit the temples. They travel for days at a time in cheap buses and on old boats. They save their money and do without to make it all possible. They need nearby temples — small, beautiful, serviceable temples.”^[1]Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Temples to Provide ‘Crowning Blessings’ of the Gospel,” Ensign, May 1998, 87–88.

Three small temples were announced at that time for Anchorage Alaska, The Mormon Colonies in Northern Mexico, and Monticello Utah. In conjunction with the announcement, traditionals ized temples were announced for Houston, Texas and Porto Alegre, Brazil, though the temple in Brazil would soon be changed to one of second generation small temples.^[2]“Five new temples are announced,” Church News, Oct. 11, 1997

These new smaller temples would feature only the rooms necessary for completion of the ordinances. The new small temples would initially have only one endowment room, one sealing room, a baptistery and changing rooms. There would be no plans for a laundry or clothing rental, so the members would be responsible for their own temple clothing.

Though three small temples had been announced, and though the idea for the new small size temples had come to President Hinckley on a trip to Colonia Juarez,^[3]van Orden, Dell, “Inspiration came for smaller temples on trip to Mexico”, Church News, August 1, 1998 Church leaders wanted the temple at Monticello to be built first,as it would be more accessible to Church headquarters and therefore easier to test the concept.^[4]Van Orden, “Inspiration Came for Smaller Temples,” 3, 12. By the time the Monticello Temple was finishing its open house, it had been determined that future small temples would have 2 Endowment rooms in a progressive fashion, and 2 sealing rooms.

Eventually the Monticello Temple would be remodeled to fit this larger floorplan.^[5]Lloyd, R. Scott (July 18, 1998), “Monticello temple opens doors to public”, Church News

Groundbreaking

Ground was Broken for the Monticello Utah Temple on 17 November 1997 by Ben B. Banks^[6]<a href=”http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/29264/Ground-broken-for-the-first-of-Churchs-new-small-temples.html”>”Ground Broken for the First of the Church’s New Small Temples,”</a>&nbsp;Church News, November 1999

Construction

The Monticello Utah Temple was constructed in just eight months and nine days, the fastest construction time of all the operating Latter-day Saint temples. In its original state, it was the smallest temple in the Church with only 7,000 square feet.

Open House

An Open House was held for the Monticello Utah Temple On 16–18 July 1998 .^[7]“Open house, dedication set for Monticello temple”, Church News, May 16, 1998^[8]Lloyd, R. Scott, “Monticello temple opens doors to public”, Church News, July 18, 1998

Dedication

The Monticello Utah Temple was the first of the small-scale temples to be completed. Less than one year after the announcement, the Monticello Utah Temple was dedicated on 26 July 1998.

President Hinckley stated in the dedicatory prayer of the temple, Even in seasons of great poverty, they [the Mormon members] have struggled to erect these sacred houses [temples]. Now Thou hast made Thy will known and blessed us with the means to erect many more temples, smaller in size but complete in their necessary appointments. These will be convenient to Thy faithful Saints and will meet the needs of Thy growing church throughout the world.”^[9]“President Hinckly Dedicates Monticello Temple,” Ensign, October 1998, p. 74

Dedicatory Prayer

Dedication Order

The Monticello Utah Temple is the 53rd operating temple, the 11th in Utah, and the 28th temple in the United States. At the time of its dedication there were 14 other temples under construction and an additional 19 awaiting groundbreaking.

Under Construction	Awaiting Groundbreaking	Under Renovation
Anchorage Alaska	Harrison New York
Colonia Juarez Mexico	Accra Ghana
Madrid Spain	Columbus Ohio
Santo Domingo Dominican Republic	Halifax Nova Scotioa
Cochobamba Bolivia	Ciudad Juarez Mexico
Reciefe Brazil	Kona Hawaii
Boston Massachussetts	Fukuoka Japan
Billings Montana	Suva Fiji
Campinas Brazil	Caracas Venezuela
Albuquerque New Mexico	Tampico Mexico
Guayaquil Ecuador	Nashville Tennessee
Porto Alegre Brazil	Monterrey Mexico
Houston Texas	St. Paul Minnesota
	Bismarck North Dakota
	Hermosillo Sonora Mexico
	Brisbane Australia
	Kyiv Ukraine
	Regina Saskatchewan

Renovation and Expansion

The Monticello Utah Temple originally had one sealing room and one instruction room. The amount of temple attendance showed that the temple needed to be expanded, and the temple underwent a renovation, which resulted in another instruction room and sealing room being added to the temple. The refinished temple had 11,225 square feet.^[10]Hill, Greg (November 23, 2002), “Monticello temple expands to match faith of members”, Church News

This project included demolition of existing portions of the building with a major remodel of the existing spaces and additions added to the building in three locations which nearly doubled the size of the building.This remodel included protection of minor existing spaces with complete repainting, wall coverings and new carpeting being installed throughout the new and remodeled structure. The existing locker rooms were re-configured and enlarged with all new finishes and equipment being installed. The floor, ceiling and wall coverings throughout were removed and re-installed. The mechanical system received a complete upgrade and additional work performed at required areas. The existing boiler was large enough to heat the new spaces, but new condensing units were required to cool the new areas. Air handlers and new ductwork was also added to serve the new areas. Humidifiers were added the entire system, and the controls for the entire system were upgraded. The electrical upgrade included a new service feed to the building. A new main distribution panel and four sub-panels were added. There is an extensive Audio Visual system throughout the building. New chandelier and hoists were added. Metal studs with gypsum board. Gold leaf decorative painting. Carpet carving/sculpting. All existing stained glass windows were removed and re-installed. The addition portions of the project included three assembly rooms, waiting room, laundry facility, several restrooms and several offices. The building footings were built on 24″ of imported structural fill. It was a wood framed building with a trussed roof system. The exterior finish consisted of a 12″ X 12″ marble tile adhered to and aluminum clad plywood sheathing. The grout joints were caulked with a specialized caulking material. The roof was a single ply EPDM membrane over ½” fiber board. The site work included relocation of an existing wrought iron fence with additional new fencing being installed up to the new property line. We added 7′ high retaining walls and new landscape area’s to the site. Specialty items on this project included adding a new water well with a 12,000 gallon concrete holding tank to provide irrigation water to the site, ADA upgrades, A/V system, marble work, gold leaf painting and high level specialty finishes. The job was completed within the scheduled seven month time period and was completed with in the Owners budget.^[11]Westland Construction. “Monticello Temple – Westland Construction.” Westland Construction – Higher Level Construction Management, 7 June 2024, westlandconstruction.com/monticello-temple.

Open House

People in this remote Utah town, many of whom possibly never conceived the idea that Monticello could have a temple prior tot he 1997 announcement, were now given the opportunity to have a second public temple open house just 4 years after the first. After the renovation, another public open house took place from 2-9 November 2002.[ref name=”expand”]
“Monticello temple to open doors after expansion”, Church News, September 14, 2002[/ref]

Rededication

President Hinckley rededicated the temple in one session on 17 November 17 2002.[backref name=”expand”]

Rededicatory Prayer

Rededication Order

At the time of the Monticello Utah Temple re-dedication, there were 117 temples in operation in the world.

There were 6 temples under construction when the temple was rededicated, and another 8 awaiting groundbreaking, as well as 2 undergoing renovation.

Under Construction	Awaiting Groundbreaking	Under Renovation
Aba Nigeria	Helsinki Finland	Sao Paulo Brazil
Accra Ghana	Newport Beach California	Apia Samoa
Redlands California	Sacramento California
Manhattan New York	San Antonio Texas
Brisbane Australia	Curitiba Brazil
Copenhagen Denmark	Panama City Panama
	Harrison New York
	Kyiv Ukraine

Presidents

Temple President	Years Served
President Thomas V. Livingston	2015–
President Richard D. Pincock	2012–2015
President Vaughn A. Johnson	2009–2012
President Donald V. Jack	2006–2009
President F. Cooper Jones	2003–2006
President Lisle G. Adams	1998–2003

Details

Located at the base of the Abajo Mountains, the temple is Situated a few blocks west of US 191, the Monticello Utah Temple sits on 1.33 acres donated by Ernest and Paul Sonderegger. An adjacent Mormon meetinghouse shares a parking lot with the temple.

Exterior

Originally 79 feet  wide by 108 feet long, the new expanded temple is 102 feet by 150 feet in size, though the height remains the same at 66 feet.

Cladding

 The temple’s exterior is finished in a Turkish marble called Noah’s Crème. Thirteen thousand tiles used on the temple were evaluated carefully to make sure they blended with each other for a uniform effect.

Windows

The windows on the Monticello temple are stained glass panels, tall and narrow, typically in sets of 4. On the celestial room they are small square panels in a grid, each window separated by the stone temple of the exterior.

Symbolism

Inscriptions

The Inscription on the Monticello Utah Temple is on the East face of the temple just south (left) of the front door.

HOLINESS TO THE LORD
THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

Cornerstone

The cornerstone of the Monticello temple is on the south east corner of the temple, facing east. It is engraved in stone, and the text is painted black.

ERECTED
1998

Spires and Moroni

Spire

The spire of the Monticello Temple is a tall narrow construction, made of 2 stacked segments, the upper segment being about half the diameter of the second. The spire was placed over the center of the single endowment room of the temple, making it off-center from the middle of the temple to the North. With the expansion of the temple to the North Side, the spire now sits closer to the center point of the temple.

Moroni

The first Angel Moroni Statue for this temple was placed on 14 May 1998.^[12]Boyle, Bill (May 23, 1998), “Statue of Angel Moroni placed on top of temple”, Church News

Originally this temple had the first of a new Moroni Statue, white in color, and with a scroll in the left hand. This new statue was 5′ 10″ and was intended to be used on all the new small temples. The Statue was carved by LeVar Wallgren. It was found that this white statue was difficult to see, and it was removed on 25 May 1999 and replaced with a taller statue sculpted in 1985 by Karl Quilter. Other copies of the small statue have been placed on other temples, but the original white statue from the Monticello Temple is in storage at the Church History Museum. Both the original statue and the new statue face east.

Interior

The Monticello Utah Temple has a total floor area of 11,225 square feet (1,042.8 m²), two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.

Individuals and Contractors

Architect	Church Architectural and Engineering Services
Project Manager	Bob Dewey
Contractor	Jacobsen Construction

Sources and Links