Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Various Accounts of the Dedication of the Salt Lake Temple
Alice Minerva Richards Account1
"I witnessed a 'Heavenly Manifestation' at the time of the dedication of the Temple and heard beautiful music, beyond anything I have heard elsewhere. I was only eight years old and saw angels on the ceiling. I have always been grateful for the privilege of attending on that sacred occasion...I still thrill when I think of what I saw and heard."
Wilford Woodruff's Account2
"I attended the dedication of the temple. The spirit and power of God rested upon us. The spirit of prophecy and revelation was upon us and the hearts of the people were melted and many things were unfolded to our understanding."
Hans Jensen Hals's Account3
I and [my] family and two hundred members of the Ward had the privilege to be at the dedication services and had a splendid time.. Rich instructions [came] from the authorities [of the Church]. Angels of God were seen coming in the south-east window and sitting on the corners. Two of them moved across the large hall over the people and went out the north window.
Joseph Fielding Smith's Account4
"On April 6, 1893 the temple was ready for dedication. President Wilford Woodruff offered the dedicatory prayer which was followed by the Hosannah Shout led by President Lorenzo Snow. These services were repeated almost daily until April 24. Thirty-one meetings were held, and a total of seventy-five thousand people had the privilege of attending. As a young man holding the Aaronic Priesthood, it was my privilege to be present at the opening session. With others holding the Aaronic Priesthood I had a place in the gallery on the north side of the assembly room. I was greatly impressed with the wonderful spirit of these exercises and have looked back to that day many times with deep feelings of satisfaction."
SOURCES
1 Quoted in Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Every Stone a Sermon (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992), 75.
2 Quoted in Preston Nibley, The Presidents of the Church, 13th ed., rev. and enl. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974), 131.
3 Holzapfel, 80.
4 Joseph Fielding Smith, "The Salt Lake Temple," Improvement Era, Vol. 56, No. 4, (April 1953).