Dedication of the Bismarck North Dakota Temple
The Bismarck North Dakota Temple was dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley on Sunday, Sept. 19, 1999, in three sessions, with 3,015 people in attendance. Accompanying him were his wife, Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley; Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi, a General Authority Seventy, and his wife, Sister Toshiko Kikuchi.
The day before the dedication ceremony, after visiting the temple, President Hinckley was amazed to learn of Church members traveling five hours from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to meet him. After the next day’s dedicatory sessions, he said rhetorically, “Who would have ever dreamed we would have a temple in Bismarck?”
The five-hour drive was small in comparison to the usual drives required to attend the temple for many in the temple district. Some in North Dakota had to drive upward of 16 hours in order to attend the Chicago Illinois Temple, the closest temple at the time.
Before the general public open house, Elder Kikuchi and Elder Donald L. Staheli of the Seventy, both members of the North America Central Area presidency, led tours through the temple for groups such as construction crews, people living in the neighborhood of the temple and local community leaders.
“I think it was very successful,” Elder Kikuchi said of the open house. “The husband of a visitor came over. He pulled me down the hallway. He said to me in tears, ‘This is extremely inspiring. I am so touched,’” he said. “Another man was so moved, I thought he was a member. He was in tears holding his wife’s hand, and said, ‘I cannot describe the feeling.’”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “We thank Thee for the faith of Thy sons and daughters in the vast area of this temple district, men and women who love Thee and love their Redeemer, and have stood steadfast as Thy people. They have felt much alone. They are out on the frontier of the Church. Their numbers are still not large. But they are entitled to every blessing which the Church has to offer, including the ordinances here administered.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Bismarck North Dakota Temple here.
Timeline of the Bismarck North Dakota Temple
In July 1998, it was announced that a temple would be built in Bismarck, North Dakota. In October of the same year, the groundbreaking site was dedicated by Elder Kenneth Johnson of the Seventy, first counselor in the North America Central Area presidency. Church President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated this house of the Lord on Sunday, Sept. 19, 1999.
Architecture and Design of the Bismarck North Dakota Temple
The Bismarck North Dakota Temple sits on a 1.6-acre site, measuring 10,700 square feet, 149 feet long and 77 feet wide. The exterior finish is made out of white marble.
Inside the temple are the celestial room, the baptistry, two instruction rooms and two sealing rooms.