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SALT LAKE CITY — Jacobsen Construction workers, dozens of trade partners, and leaders from the Special Projects Division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints working on the Salt Lake Temple renovation gathered at Brigham Young Historic Park on Monday for a Pioneer Day celebration in honor of the Utah holiday’s special connection to the project.
Enjoying a pause from their ongoing labors, more than 800 members of the renovation team enjoyed box lunches together, received commemorative bandanas and helmet stickers designed for the occasion and listened to specially prepared remarks about the Salt Lake Temple’s significance to the westward pioneers who first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.
“We are renewing the legacy created by pioneers who settled many areas in the west and built temples,” said George Bonnet, director of communications for historic temple renovations for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking to those who were gathered.
Pioneer Day holds significance for Latter-day Saints and Utah residents. It commemorates the long and arduous trek of religious pioneers seeking religious freedom and new beginnings in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Brigham Young’s famous declaration that “This is the place!” ushered in a new era of perseverance and sacrifice for those who had made the long journey, as they began the work of founding Salt Lake City and building up other communities. These pioneers and their posterity spent 40 hardscrabble years building the Salt Lake Temple, completing it at long last in 1893.
“We are … making the Salt Lake Temple new again for hundreds of years to come,” Bonnet said. “Our own legacy … is being created one day at a time by everyone involved.”
Bonnet went on to describe the special importance of temples to Latter-day Saints of today, who go there to commune with God and perform sacred religious ordinances. The Salt Lake Temple, which was one of the first temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be completed and is prominent in the downtown Salt Lake City skyline, is an especially iconic and spiritually meaningful symbol for millions of members of the faith across the world.
“I invite each of you to keep these thoughts in mind, to be mindful of them as you enter the site each day, as we go forward completing this magnificent edifice,” Bonnet told the renovation team. “The day will come when this temple will be presented to the Lord, as His house, a holy place and a sacred space.”
The extensive, ongoing renovation of the Salt Lake Temple is the most comprehensive work done on the religious structure since it was originally completed in 1893. The project, which began in early 2020, has called for several complex engineering and construction processes designed to strengthen the temple structurally and protect it against earthquakes. These have included the reinforcement of spires and towers with added steel and tensioned cables, the use of a first-of-its kind base isolator system to allow the building to move up to 5 feet multi-directionally without being damaged during an earthquake, the installation of tension rods and high-strength grout into the original foundation, and much more. The surrounding Temple Square grounds are also being refreshed with new pavilions, as well as renovated plazas and walkways.
