Rising from ashes: Ground is broken for LDS Church's 2nd temple in Provo

PROVO — Dale King sang with a choir at a Christmas celebration in the Provo Tabernacle days before a fire gutted the historic building in late 2010.

The Provo resident sang with a choir again on the site Saturday, when leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated the property for the construction of Provo's second temple — to be built inside the tabernacle's shell.

For King, who lives just a few minutes from the historic building that was originally constructed from 1883 to 1898, the temple groundbreaking signified the rising of something beautiful from the ashes of devastation.

He and more than 5,600 people gathered on the grounds of the historic site for the ceremonies, during which Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke and offered a prayer of dedication. Also delivering remarks were Sister Patricia Holland, Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder William R. Walker of the Seventy and Elder Cecil O. Samuelson, emeritus Seventy and president of Brigham Young University. The proceedings were broadcast to LDS meetinghouses throughout Provo and Springville.

The Provo City Center Temple is expected to be completed in three years and will include underground parking.

During the groundbreaking ceremony, church leaders were joined by government and civic leaders in turning over shovels filled with soil to signify the beginning of work on the site.

Built in the heart of Provo, the historic tabernacle was a community gathering place for meetings and cultural events for decades.

Elder and Sister Holland attended their first LDS Church meeting together on the site in 1963, nearly 50 years ago. Elder Holland said he and his family have been sharing experiences on the site ever since.

"I am as thrilled as anyone is in this audience today," he said.

Looking out at the multitude of people seated on the property, Elder Holland noted that more people were attending the groundbreaking event than have been on the site before or will be again.

"What an absolutely stunning sight," he said. "A picture-perfect day in Utah County. … And these grounds are filled, as much as possible and practical, with faithful people making history. Sometimes we are so close to history we don't realize we are making it."

He called the site dedication a "remarkable moment."

"This community means really everything to us," he said. "We now have a worldwide ministry, but there are certain locations that have made us who we are and what we are."

Elder Holland said he is thrilled with the significance of two LDS temples located so close to each other in "the shadow of 'Y mountain' and near the shores of Utah Lake."

He said for more than 100 years the Provo Tabernacle hosted stake conferences and worship services of all kinds, firesides, funerals, lectures, concerts and graduation services. "It has heard the voice of at least one president of the United States, William Howard Taft, and, by my count, at least 12 presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," he said. "No other public space in Provo has ever had such valued and varied use, and no other structure in this county has been such an integral part of the religious and civic life here."

Elder Holland read an excerpt of the original prayer of dedication of a portion of the building by Abraham O. Smoot. "We dedicate this room and all that it contains to thy service for the purpose of meeting together and learning of thy ways," said Elder Smoot in the dedicatory prayer.

Elder Holland said that statement — which spoke of Latter-day Saints gathering and learning of the Lord's ways — was a pronouncement years ago of days to come.