Miracle of the Nauvoo Temple Blue Prints

The Nauvoo Temple stands as symbol of the past, a reminder of simpler times and hope for the future for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Only four years after the dedication of the Nauvoo Temple, it was destroyed and laid in ruins. The Nauvoo Temple was announced in 1841, Latter-day Saints worked for four years to build the Temple. In 1844, the work on the temple was halted at the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Within weeks the work began again, with more urgency to finish the temple before the great exodus. Leaving their beautiful Temple and city was heart wrenching for the member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1999, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the Church was to rebuild the Nauvoo Temple as it stood all those years ago.

At the groundbreaking ceremony of the New Nauvoo Temple President Gordon B. Hinckley said “There will grace this site a magnificent structure, a re-creation of that which existed here and served our people so briefly during that great epic period of the history of the Church."

“This will be the House of the Lord. It will be dedicated as His Holy House. It will be reserved and set aside for the accomplishment of His divine and eternal purposes. It will occupy a special place in the belief and testimony and the conviction of this people. It will have great historical significance. It will be a thing of beauty and, I hope, a joy forever."

When Gordon B. Hinckley announced the rebuilding of the Nauvoo Temple the temple architects and designers did the best they could to get everything on the outside(and many things inside) as a replica of what the Nauvoo Temple looked like when the Saints built the Temple 200 years ago.

Pic Credit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Keith Stepan, the managing director of the Temple Construction Department said ”piecing everything together, we think the outside of the new temple is as close as humanly possible to the original.”

The principal architect Roger Jackson said ”In some of the fine points, like the shape of the molding or how this piece abutted to that piece, it wasn’t clear from the photographs, so we studied other buildings of the time. . . we feel good that we are 99%.

The efforts to make the Nauvoo Temple The work that went into making the new Nauvoo Temple a replica of the original Nauvoo Temple is really amazing. Knowing that, as you look at the new Nauvoo Temple, you are looking as close to the original as we can make it today.

There are a lot of miracles that happened to get all the information needed to rebuild the Nauvoo temple. There was miracle after miracle.

Nauvoo Temple Blueprints Miracle

One of the most significant pieces to help build the new Nauvoo Temple was the original blueprints. These blueprints had been outside of the Church for many years, and getting these special blueprints back is a miracle. The original blueprints of the Nauvoo Temple made it back to Salt Lake City 100 years after the original Nauvoo Temple was built.

This story is told by Sister Marjorie Hopkins Bennion when she met the great-great granddaughter of William Weeks. William Weeks was the architect of the original Nauvoo Temple.

Sister Benion said: ”In 1948, a young missionary from Heber City Utah, Elder Vernon C. Thacker, was transferred to a small remote town of Boron California, in the Mojave Desert. While there he and his companion, Elder Frank Gifford, knocked on the door of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie M. Griffin, who graciously greeted them. Mr. Griffin was not a member of the Church but he old the missionaries that he was the grandson of William Weeks, the architect of the ‘old Mormon Temple in Nauvoo Illinois.’ Although Leslie remembered little of his grandfather, he knew William was very proud of his role as [temple] architect. … The two Mormon missionaries developed a good relationship with the Griffin family. .… Before Thacker was to return home to Utah following the completion of his mission, Griffin turned the temple drawings over to him with the instructions for him to deliver them to Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Thacker recalled the scene:

”’On our last visit to Mr.Griffin he excused himself for a few minutes and went into the rear part of his house. He returned with a large roll of papers about three feet long, ten inches in diameter, secured with a rubber band. He explained, ’These are the original architects drawings for the Nauvoo Temple. They have been in my family for nearly 100 years, handed down from my grandfather, William Weeks.” He opened the bundle. … There were exterior drawings, some interior, an angel on a weather vane, pencil sketches for circular stairways, circular windows, archways, etc. Even the measurements for various details of the temple were included in Williams handwritings. They were yellowed with age but in amazingly good conditions. Mr. Griffin knew I was returning home in a few days. He asked me if I would do him a favor of carrying these plans to the [Church’s] headquarters. I assured him that it would be a great honor for me to do so. He said he felt strongly that, after 100 years, these should be given to the Church. I subsequently left Boron with the plans tucked into the turtle back trunk of my Ford.’

Delivering The Temple Blueprints to Salt Lake City

“One week after returning from his mission, Thacker made an appointment with [Church Historian] A. William Lund. … and turned the drawings over to him. A short time later, Griffin received a letter of thanks from Lund. . . ”We appreciate your action far more than words can express.’”

What are the chances that these young missionaries would knock into this family ready for to hand these blueprints over to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? There are no coincidences, the Lord is directing His church.

Nauvoo Temple Daguerreotype

There is a similar story that the Historians for the Church told of finding a well preserved image of the Nauvoo Temple. All these made building the Nauvoo Temple possible.