Several inches of snow blanketed the temple grounds. Though residents here are used to long, cold winters, this one has been exceptional in the past decade for the amount of snow that has piled up everywhere, including around the temple site. Workers were busy Friday and Saturday, using front end loaders and dump trucks to clear the massive mounds that had accumulated near the structure as the wind blew it into deep drifts from the surrounding fields.

Thousands of church members who couldn't attend the dedication in person because of limited seating gathered in area stake centers to view the proceedings live via satellite.

At 57,504 square feet, the temple is the same size as the Draper Temple, now under construction in the southeast corner of the Salt Lake Valley, though its exterior is more reminiscent of the Boston Temple, completed in 2000.

Built of precast concrete panels with a white quartz rock finish and Idaho Travertine, it features interior murals by Rexburg native Leon Parson and 700 art-glass windowpanes, most with a depiction of wheat stalk and created by Utah artist Tom Holdman.

The wheat stalk was among the main themes of the cultural celebration for the new temple, held Saturday night on the BYU-Idaho campus.

It traced the history of the LDS Church in the region, beginning with a party of early settlers led by Thomas Ricks that was dispatched here by leaders in Logan in the 1883, before Idaho joined the Union in 1890. The town was formally organized in 1903.

When local pioneers became discouraged by the harsh weather, heavy mosquito infestation and difficulty of cultivation, early LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff visited the area, telling the people that one day church meeting houses and temples would be built in the upper Snake River Valley — a prophecy many believe has now been fulfilled.

The temple is the third to be built by Latter-day Saints in Idaho, and will serve about 47,000 church members in southeastern Idaho, not only in Rexburg, but also Sugar City, St. Anthony, Ashton and Driggs. A fourth Idaho temple is currently under construction in Twin Falls.