Nauvoo Temple — Nearly 6,000 Endowments Given in 60 Days Before the Exodus

The Nauvoo Temple was the first house of the Lord in which the full sequence of temple ordinances — baptism for the dead, the endowment, and eternal marriage — was performed in this dispensation. Its construction spanned six years and was completed only after the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, by Saints who knew they would soon be driven from their homes.

Between December 1845 and February 1846, nearly 6,000 Latter-day Saints received their endowments in this temple before the exodus west — approximately 100 per day, in a building that was still being completed around them, administered by exhausted quorum leaders who worked through the nights.

Brigham Young and the other Apostles pressed forward the ordinance work despite the constant threat of mob violence and legal persecution. President Young recorded that even as mobs burned settlements in the countryside and federal marshals sought to arrest him, the temple work continued because the people had sacrificed too much and the time was too short. He wrote that he felt 'moved upon to pour out' his soul in prayer that God would accept the temple and the work done therein before the Saints had to abandon it.

On April 30, 1846, the temple received a private dedication by Joseph Young. The next day, May 1, it was publicly dedicated by Apostles Orson Hyde and Wilford Woodruff.

The Saints left Nauvoo in February and March 1846, crossing the frozen Mississippi River into Iowa in brutal winter conditions. That 6,000 souls received sacred ordinances in a 60-day window — by a people under armed threat, with no heating, with construction crews still working overhead — is considered one of the great collective acts of faith in Latter-day Saint history.

The temple was burned by arsonists on November 18, 1848. It was rebuilt and rededicated in 2002, with the architectural drawings providentially discovered in a non-member's home just in time to ensure an exact replica of the original exterior.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in History of the Church, Vol. 7, Chapter 31):

On the 10th of December, 1845, the attic story of the Temple was so far completed that the ordinance of the endowment was commenced. From that time until the 7th of February, 1846, the brethren and sisters were permitted to receive their endowments. During that period, 5,595 persons received the ordinances of the endowment. The work was carried on day and night, the brethren being divided into companies, and the Temple was kept open for the purpose of administering these ordinances until the very day the Saints began to leave Nauvoo for the wilderness. The Temple was dedicated by the Saints in their hearts, and the Lord accepted of their labors, and the ordinances were administered therein, although the building was not fully completed.