St. George Temple

During a period of scanty food supplies, malaria, alkali soil, and floods, the St. George Temple was built over six years by approximately 250 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who lived in a community of 1,100 inhabitants. These laborers dug the foundation for the building by hand, pounded together a foundation of black volcanic rock, cut stone for the exterior walls from the nearby quarry , and hauled one million feet of lumber by oxen from mills at both Pine Valley Mountain and Mt. Trumbull in Arizona. Women wove rag carpets for the interior hallways and fashioned fringe for the alters and pulpits from Utah-produced silk. The historic photo was taken while three craftsmen posed on the parapets, including George Laub, wearing the white apron, Robert McQuarrie holding the saw, and Aaron McDonald. Completed in 1877, the building is currently closed for extensive renovation.