The St. Louis Missouri Temple is the first temple built in Missouri even though there were temple sites dedicated in Independence Missouri, Far West Missouri and Adam-ondi-Ahman, in the 1830’s.
The St. Louis Missouri Temple was the 50th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The St. Louis Missouri Temple has 58,749 square feet.
The St. Louis Missouri Temple site sits on a hill. There is a wooded area that creates a barrier between the temple and the areas busiest highways. Nearly 200,000 cars pass by there every day.
U.S. Senator Christopher Bond was among the participants in VIP tours preceding the public open house. While serving as governor of Missouri in 1976, it was he who rescinded the infamous extermination order issued in 1838 by Governor Lilburn W. Boggs commanding Latter-day Saints to leave the state within 30 days under threat of extermination.
President Hinckley dedicated the St. Louis Missouri Temple in 1997. 23,000 people from the temple district participated in the dedication.
When looking for the perfect site for the St. Louis Missouri Temple the members of the First Presidency went out to Missouri separately. Each member of the First Presidency selected the same site, and this is where the St. Louis Missouri Temple is built today.
On the day of the groundbreaking of the St. Louis Missouri Temple it was unseasonably cold. President Gordon B. Hinckley said that he was glad it is cold because “it brings us to a greater appreciation for the Saints who left the state of Missouri in 1838 under the orders of the governor; a tragic episode in the history of our people and I think that it must be so for Missouri.”
The St. Louis Missouri Temple architect based some of their architectural elements from the Salt Lake Temple. They did tall, narrow arched windows topped with round windows, they did vertical pilasters, and cornice along the top of the temple.
In the design structure of the St. Louis Missouri Temple designers went to great lengths in design and materials to ensure that the temple would last at least 300 years!
References:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/st.-louis-missouri-temple/
”Temples of the New Millennium” by Chad S. Hawkins