Who bombed the Salt Lake Temple?

Damage to the front of the Salt Lake Temple
following the explosion. Note the broken windows.
Source: Deseret News, 14 Nov 1962, B1.

Shortly before 2 AM on Wednesday, 14 November 1962 those living near Salt Lake’s Temple Square were awakened by an explosion which shook their homes. An employee at the nearby Greyhound Bus Depot reported that it “kind of rocked things for a while,” and that “it felt a little like [a] quake, but I figured it was an explosion.”(2) The Salt Lake City Police switchboard was flooded with calls from concerned neighbors, while three watchmen on Temple Square scrambled to find the source of the blast.

Reports in the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune conflict in regards to which of the watchmen finally discovered the damage, and how long it took to do so (with 20 minutes being the shortest time and 40 the longest). When finally discovered, one of the doors on the temple’s east front exhibited a five-inch hole where a doorknob had once sat. The windows on that door, and several set in the granite walls above and around the door had all been shattered; a total of 11 windows were broken, including some in the interior. Inside of the temple, damage was done to doors, light fixtures, and plaster. The foyer behind the front door was covered in wooden splinters along with bits of metal and glass. The Trib reported that one of the temple’s famous doorknobs had been sent flying into the building, puncturing a hole in a wall.(1)

A view of the damage inside the temple's foyer.
The splintered front door is on the right.
Source: Deseret News, 14 Nov 1962, B10, SLC Police photo.

Initial investigations concluded that the damage was most likely done with a plastic explosive. The Church gave permission for FBI Agents and experts from Dugway Proving Ground to examine the damaged area. There was a concern that the explosive used may have been sold to the public as surplus property. Investigators guessed that the culprit had scaled the wall or hidden on the square at closing time, because the wall’s gates were locked at the time of the explosion.

"Viva Castro" Graffiti.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune,
15 Nov 1962, B1.

Both newspapers mention some recent “pranks” pulled on the Church, most prominently graffiti left near the site of the blast. This consisted of the words “Viva Castro” inscribed on the wall just opposite where the bomb went off (but there is some ambiguity in both articles whether the graffiti was done a few days prior to or if it was concurrent with the bombing). These words were no doubt a reference to Fidel Castro and the successful Cuban Revolution which had brought a major change in that country’s government. Castro and communism had been discussed during the 132^nd semi-annual general conference, held the month prior to the bombing. During that conference the perceived dangers of communism were discussed by a few speakers, with Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking at length on Castro, Cuba, and communism.(8)

In his personal life Elder Benson was a strong supporter of the anti-communist John Birch Society, even writing to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in support of the society and condemning their mutual friend President Dwight D. Eisenhower.(4) Benson’s son Reed had become coordinator of Utah’s chapter of the John Birch Society just weeks prior to the attack on the temple.(7) Because of this some Latter-day Saints and non-members had started to wonder about the relationship between the Church and the John Birch Society, something which distressed President David O. McKay. As a result the First Presidency of the Church released a statement, which read in part: “We deplore the presumption of some politicians, especially officers, co-ordinators and members of the John Birch Society, who undertake to align the Church or its leadership with their political views.”(3) This statement was released in January 1963, less than two months after the bombing.

Did the political activism of the Benson family, which was often over the pulpit, convince the bomber that the Church and the John Birch Society were conspiring together? There are other ideas about who bombed the temple; historian Jeffery O. Johnson has said “many Mormons associated this incident with the violence of the nation’s racial strife.”(6) Perhaps racial tensions, especially over the Church’s Priesthood Ban, was what bothered the bomber. And yet still it could have been simply a nighttime prank. Unfortunately the crime never seems to have been solved and I have been unable to find any further reports on the investigation.

Two SLC Police officers look at each other through
the hole blasted in the temple door.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Nov 1962, B1.

This was not the only time a bomb went off on Temple Square. During the construction of the Hotel Utah (now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building) a bomb set by members of an ironworkers union damaged the partially built hotel and also damaged the Angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake Temple. A fellow blogger has written an article on this episode here: http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/08/23/the-day-the-angel-moroni-almost-lost-his-horn/

Also nearby, the infamous Mark Hofmann was injured by one of his own bombs which exploded just north of the present Conference Center on 16 October 1985.

Works Cited

1. Baldwin, Jim G. “Blast Damages Temple in S.L.” Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah), 15 November 1962, B1/B2.

2. “Blast Damages S.L. Temple- Believed Work of Vandals.” Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 14 November 1962, B1/B10.

3. “Church Sets Policy on Birch Society.” Deseret News, 3 January 1963, A1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LZMpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JUoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6155%2C556242

4. Davidson, Lee. “FBI files shed light on Ezra Taft Benson, Ike and the Birch Society.” Salt Lake Tribune, 16 November 2010. http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=11289154&itype=storyID

5. “Detonation of Plastic Explosive Damages Front Door of Salt Lake Temple.” Church News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 17 November 1962, 4.

6. Johnson, Jeffery O. “Change and Growth: The Mormon Church & the 1960s.” Sunstone Magazine, June 1994, 25.

7. Nokes, R. Greg. “Son of Former Agriculture Secretary Now Heads State John Birch Society.” Gadsden Times (Gadsden, Alabama), 19 May 1963, 6.

8. Report of the 132^nd Semi-Annual Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1962. https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1962sa

Have you visited MormonTemples.org?

Edit: As of 2018, mormontemples.org appears to have been taken down. The URL redirects to the temples section of lds.org, which unfortunately doesn't include the many interior photos.

The Church has recently released a redesign of mormontemples.org! Unlike many websites with temple information, mormontemples.org is an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Therefore it is a good one for you to visit and point non-members to. One of the new features is a "Temple Tour" which includes a clickable floor plan of a temple, with explanations and videos. Also included under "Find a Temple" are beautiful photographs of each temple, and some even include interior photos (both modern and historical). Here is an example of a historical photo found in the St. George Temple media gallery:

Garden Room, St. George Temple, prior to 1975.
Source: mormontemples.org.

Original Layout of the St. George Utah Temple

(May 2019 update: The Church has announced a renovation of the St. George Utah Temple. The temple will close in November 2019, with the work expected to be completed in 2022. Check out the details here: https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-shares-renovation-plans-st-george-utah-temple.)

For many Latter-day Saints the pioneer era temples are among the most recognizable and best loved. The oldest of these historic buildings is the St. George Utah Temple. This temple was dedicated in 1877 and it has been in use continually since that time (with the exception of relatively short remodeling closures). For us in 2015 that has been 138 years! While the building’s stark white exterior has changed little during that time, the interior spaces—specifically the lower levels—have been heavily remodeled.

The addition of modern conveniences like electricity, elevators, and—very important to this corner of Utah—air conditioning, have all played a large part in necessitating the many remodelings. But there have been other reasons to change the temple’s interior as well. For example, the most recent major remodeling came in the 1970s when, among other changes, the rooms used to present the endowment ordinance were modified to allow this presentation by way of a film. Yet the endowment rooms changed during this remodel were not 1877 originals. In fact when the temple was dedicated there were not truly permanent endowment rooms like we see in modern-day temples.

The St. George Temple’s basic design and original interior were very similar to the 1846 Nauvoo Temple. In fact when archaeological studies were being conducted on the Nauvoo Temple site in the 1960s, the archaeologists used St. George Temple plans and photographs to help interpret what they were finding (Harrington, 5). These two temples in turn shared a basic floor plan with the Kirtland Temple and other unbuilt temples of the restoration. While I hope to do a more in-depth post on the design similarities of the early Latter-day Saint temples I will give a summary here:

The Kirtland Temple, whose original layout remains preserved to this day, includes two large assembly rooms which take up the majority of floor space on the two lower stories of the temple. These large assembly rooms include pulpits at both ends where Church leadership would sit during meetings. Curtains were also suspended from the ceiling and could be lowered to partition these large assembly spaces into smaller temporary rooms. Above these two floors is a third story “attic” which is permanently divided up into small rooms and was used mostly as classroom space. All three stories are accessed from a vestibule on the east end which includes two staircases. Topping the temple’s east end is a small tower. There is a basement level but it is little more than a storage/crawl space. Looking at the HABS drawing below will help you make sense of this layout.

The Kirtland Temple.
Source: Historic American Buildings Survey.

The Kirtland Temple.
Source: Historic American Buildings Survey.

The next temple constructed by the Latter-day Saints (Nauvoo) followed this same floor plan, with two important additions. The first was the addition of a basement level which included a font to be used in Baptisms for the Dead. These baptisms had yet to be practiced when the Kirtland Temple was built. The second design change was the addition of mezzanine levels above each assembly room. These levels were made up of small rooms running the length of the temple. So in review there was the basement level with its baptistry, the first assembly room level, the first mezzanine level, the second assembly room level, the second mezzanine level, and finally the attic level. All six of these levels were accessed from two spiral staircases located in the corners of the temple at the west end.

The St. George Temple would follow the same pattern as the Nauvoo Temple, with the exception of the attic story; there would be no level above the second mezzanine level. The endowment ordinance which had taken place on Nauvoo’s attic floor would take place on the basement level of the St. George Temple (Yorgason, 226). This meant the basement of the St. George temple would be a beehive of activity, with not only the canvas partitioned endowment rooms and the baptistry, but with changing rooms, the boiler, and equipment for indoor plumbing (Ibid).

A cross section of the
St. George Temple; circa 1877.

Above the St. George Temple’s basement level was the first assembly room, which like the Kirtland Temple could be partitioned with canvas curtains. This was followed by the first mezzanine level, then the second assembly room, and finally the second mezzanine level. Just like in the original Nauvoo Temple both of the mezzanine levels contained numerous small rooms running the length of the temple. There were eight on each side of the temple, totaling 16 on each floor. The large elliptical arched ceilings found in the center of both assembly rooms extended up past the floor line of the mezzanine levels. Today these small rooms are mainly used for sealings, while some contain HVAC equipment, and others are supposedly empty. Historically the rooms had many uses, I have even heard tell that some were used as apartments for those from out of town, though I can’t back this up with a reliable source. All of these levels were accessed by two spiral staircases at the east end of the temple.

It can be difficult to envision the layout of the temple through reading, so I have draw and posted some diagrams to help. These are based upon original temple drawings by Truman O. Angell which were published in The St. George Temple: The First 100 Years by Janice Force DeMille, and upon my personal knowledge/observations and that which has been shared to me by others. Keep in mind these are not professional or 100 percent accurate.

According to the authors of All That Was Promised: The St. George Temple and the Unfolding of the Restoration the basement very quickly proved to be too small and the two final rooms used in the endowment (the terrestrial and celestial rooms) were moved from the basement to the first assembly floor (Yorgason, 286-288). The exact layout isn’t publicly known, though it appears it was done with canvas partitions rather than physical walls. For 60 years the basement would include the creation, garden, and world rooms (which included beautiful murals) while the first level assembly room provided space for the remainder of the endowment (Yorgason, 238).

First assembly room floor plan, circa 1877. Notice the pulpits at either end of the hall and the room in the tower. The temple originally had two of these levels, but the lower one was eventually remodeled into smaller rooms for use in the endowment ceremony. These levels can be identified on the exterior by the long windows.

Mezzanine level floor plan, circa 1877. The temple has two of these floors, both of which still retain much of their original decoration and layout. They are located above the assembly room levels; the arched center assembly room ceilings extend up into the center of the mezzanine levels. These levels can be identified on the exterior by the round windows.

The different floors of the temple can be identified by the exterior. In the photo above, the different colored bars represent the different floors of the temple. From the bottom to the top, the floors are: basement, first assembly (currently the endowment room level), first mezzanine, second assembly (currently the only assembly room), and finally the second mezzanine. The 1970s western addition can be seen to the left of the colored bars. This addition includes stairwells and an elevator, which is how temple patrons normally access the different floors. The east tower includes additional levels not visible in this photograph.

Between 1937 and 1938 the temple was closed for a remodeling project in which the basement endowment rooms were abandoned and permanent creation, garden, and world rooms were constructed on the first assembly room level. The terrestrial and celestial rooms already on that floor were remodeled and moved to fit the new floor plan. At present all the endowment rooms remain on this level of the temple.

By the 1970s it was decided to remodel the temple once again. The rooms used to present the endowment would be changed around to allow for a film presentation. Church architect Emil B. Fetzer, who designed the Provo and original Ogden Utah Temples would led the remodeling program (DeMille, 113). On the west end of the temple a large addition was made, which added two new stairwells and an elevator. This allowed the temple patrons to skip the old circular staircases at the east end. The first three rooms of the endowment ceremony (creation, garden, and world) were basically gutted and turned into stationary rooms with a screen at one end on which to project the film. Entrance into these rooms is made through doorways placed in the old west wall windows that are now accessible from the western addition. Doors were cut from each of these stationary endowment rooms into the present veil room. I believe this veil room was once the terrestrial room, though how much it has changed I do not know. The celestial room was essentially unchanged and today remains fairly similar to its 1938 configuration. At present the endowment begins in one of the three rooms (which are on a rotating schedule) after which the patron moves to the veil room and then finally the celestial room.

A cross section of the modern
St. George Temple; circa 2015.

Today’s basement is used for the baptistry and its locker rooms, plus locker rooms for temple workers. The entire basement story must be fairly high, as the at the east end the floor has been split into two separate stories. The bottom story is the changing rooms for the sisters and the top story contains rooms for the brethren. The baptistry is towards the west end and includes the original refurbished font, two rooms for confirmations, a foyer with recommend desk, name desk, a small chapel, clothing issue, and locker rooms.

The St. George Temple would be the only Utah temple built with the “restoration” temple design of two assembly halls. The other pioneer temples (Logan, Manti, and Salt Lake) were all constructed with permanent endowment rooms in the lower levels and a single assembly room on the top floor. This short history ignores many other construction projects seen on the temple, such as its numerous annexes, and the building of a new taller tower. But hopefully this post adds to your appreciation of the St. George Temple and its continual part in the restoration of Christ's Gospel.

Works Cited

DeMille, Janice Force. The St. George Temple: The First 100 Years. Hurricane, Utah: Homestead Publishers, 1977.

Harrington, Virginia S. and J. C. Harrington. Rediscovery of the Nauvoo Temple: Report on Archaeological Excavations. Nauvoo Restoration, Inc. 1971.

Kirtland Temple (Mormon). Historic American Buildings Survey.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/oh0043/

Yorgason, Blaine M., Richard A. Schmutz and Douglas D. Alder. All That Was Promised: The St. George Temple and the Unfolding of the Restoration. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013.