Dedication of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple
When Brigham Young sent settlers to southern Utah in the mid-19th century, the area that now encompasses St. George was almost uninhabitable. Red sand, alkaline soil and hills of black lava rock covered the landscape, and the nearby Virgin River was filled with mud and sediment, bringing mosquitoes and disease when it flooded. Ten years into the settlement, half the original residents had left. But those who remained pressed on, especially when President Brigham Young announced in January 1871 that a temple would be built.
“I think he also picked St. George because he knows that these are people that will work hard to build Zion. They’re not going to give up when things get difficult,” later said Emily Utt, the Church’s historic sites curator, in 2024.
Over 150 years after Brigham Young’s announcement, the sacrifices of those early settlers, coupled with the explosive population growth in the region in the 21st century, manifested themselves in the dedication of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple, the second in St. George, after the St. George Utah Temple.
Massive growth in the region came with more youth and young adults, who many local members said would now have more opportunities to serve in the temple.
Local members Lonette and Burke Staheli said their favorite moments of the open-house period were when youth groups would come through on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. “They brought so much energy and enthusiasm,” Burke Staheli said of the Latter-day Saint youth. “I just kept saying, ‘This is why we needed to build this.’ We were not able to keep up with the growth of the youth and their opportunities to serve in the temple with just one temple.”
For five weeks, until the dedication of the Urdaneta Philippines Temple in late April 2024, St. George was home to both the oldest and newest operating temples of the Church.
With the two St. George temples both visible from multiple vantage points in the city, the holy structures are shining invitations to come unto Christ and constant reminders to members in the region to attend regularly.
“With all my heart, I urge [Latter-day Saints] to come to the temple often,” said President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, who dedicated the temple on March 24, 2024, and whose great-grandfather was an original settler of the region.
“I rejoice in the myriad ways [Latter-day Saints] will be changed, refined and endowed with power from on high as they make regular appointments to come and worship in this glorious house of the Lord,” Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles added.
The two leaders were joined at the dedication by Elder Kearon’s wife, Sister Jennifer Kearon; Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a General Authority Seventy and Utah Area president, and his wife, Sister June L. Pearson; and Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt, a General Authority Seventy and assistant executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Alexis Schmitt.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “We pray for the children and youth in a world that is increasingly unworthy. May they be drawn to this house of the Lord to learn a pattern of living that will allow them to stay close to Thee. As they turn their hearts to Thee, may they also turn their hearts to their family members, past and present, that Thy promise might be fulfilled.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple here.
Timeline of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple
The Red Cliffs Utah Temple was announced Oct. 7, 2018, by Church President Russell M. Nelson. The groundbreaking and site dedication were held on Nov. 7, 2020, and presided over by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
After a public open house from Feb. 1 to March 2, 2024, the Red Cliffs Utah Temple was dedicated on March 24, 2024, by President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency.
Architecture and Design of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple
The Red Cliffs Utah Temple, designed in the desert modern and neoclassical architectural styles, has an area of approximately 96,277 square feet. Motifs in the coral-and-beige-toned precast exterior are inspired by the grand cottonwood trees, mountains and canyons of southern Utah. Atop the center of the building is a multilevel spire, with arched windows around the bottom portion and arched openings around the top portion.
A water feature with three reflecting pools and waterfalls and accompanying seats sit on the temple’s north side, with shade structures on both the east and west sides. Common motifs inside include those of the dwarf bearclaw poppy, succulents, Indian paintbrush, cottonwood leaves and pomegranates.
This house of the Lord sits on a 15.31-acre site, with palm trees and green, yellow and purple bushes adorning the grounds. Due to a high water table, the temple site used to be unable to support the future temple’s foundation. Workers transported 30,000 cubic yards of red dirt from the foundation of the St. George Utah Temple, a temple in the same city, onto the Red Cliffs temple grounds to make them more stable.
Interior Photos of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple
