Temple Square is sacred ground for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is also the "architectural center" of Salt Lake City and the most-visited site in the state — more than Utah's famed national parks. Some 5 million people visit Temple Square annually, making it the 16th most-visited spot in the nation, according to Forbes.
Attracting visitors, however, was not part of the initial plan.
"Though it now enjoys a position of notoriety, it was never really the intent or hope of the early Mormon settlers that it would become a state, national or even internationally known site," writes C. Mark Hamilton in the Utah History Encyclopedia.
Temple Square began with a simple declaration by Brigham Young that it was the future site for the Salt Lake Temple.
"It then gradually evolved into the present sanctuary that houses within its protective walls three significant pioneer buildings, two visitor centers and historic monuments — all within a beautifully manicured garden setting," Hamilton writes.
Brigham Young identified the temple site on July 28, 1847, and had surveyors map out the city from there. Temple Square is the block from which all addresses in the Salt Lake City area are based on.
Originally planned as a 40-acre block, Temple Square was reduced to one-fourth that size "for convenience," according to Carolyn J. Rasmus in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. That made it compatible with the 10-acre-size blocks planned for the rest of the city.
However, the reduction meant that instead of the temple being in the center of the lot, it "moved" to the northeast corner.
The famous 15-foot-high wall around the temple site became Temple Square's first permanent structure. It began in 1852 as a make-work project for new settlers and those on their way to the California gold fields.
The wall has been rebuilt over the years, but has maintained much of its original appearance.
The first buildings on Temple Square were open-side boweries with branch and willow roofs on the southwest corner used for gatherings and church meetings, according to the Utah History Encyclopedia.
The "Old Tabernacle," built of adobe, was dedicated on April 6, 1852, replacing those first boweries. It was demolished in 1877 to make way for the Assembly Hall, which opened on Jan. 8, 1882.
The original Endowment House opened in 1855 as Temple Square's second building. It was used until November 1889, when it was razed prior to completion of the temple. Today's North Visitors Center sits about where the first Endowment House was located.
The current Tabernacle was first used on Oct. 6, 1867, for LDS general conference, but wasn't dedicated until Oct. 9, 1875.
The Salt Lake Temple, focal point of Temple Square, sits on the highest elevation ground on the site. Ground was broken for the temple on Feb. 14, 1853, and the four cornerstones were laid on April 6 of that year. The Romanesque/Gothic-style structure required 40 years for completion.
The famous statue of President Brigham Young was first displayed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. It stood briefly on Temple Square and was then transferred to the intersection of Main and South Temple streets in 1897. It stood there until 1993, when it was moved north to its present location.
Statues of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith once sat in niches at the top of the two eastern stairways to the Salt Lake Temple. These bronze statues were later removed and placed southward on the temple block.
Visitors weren't officially catered to on Temple Square until Aug. 4, 1902, when the First Quorum of Seventy opened a small octagonal booth as a "Bureau of Information and Church Literature."
It was replaced by a larger building in March 1904. The two current visitors centers didn't come along until August 1966 (north center) and June 1978 (south center).
A 20-foot-wide outdoor billboard used to sit at ground level just inside the south entrance to Temple Square beginning in 1914, depicting a scene from Christ's life.
Monuments to the sea gulls, the handcart companies, the Aaronic Priesthood and the Three Witnesses were also erected on Temple Square over the years. In addition, there is a Nauvoo Bell tower. (The Nauvoo Bell was once housed in the Bureau of Information.)
The Tabernacle has been idle on two occasions for nonrenovation work. The first was in April 1909 for a flu epidemic; the second was during World War II, from March 1942 to September 1945.
The current Temple Annex, northeast of the Temple, opened March 21, 1966. Previously a white-colored annex occupied this area.
Holiday lighting on Temple Square came along in 1965, expanding the visitor base even more.
On Oct. 7 and 8, 2000, the Conference Center opened north of Temple Square, replacing the Tabernacle as the church's primary center for general conferences and other large gatherings. However, Temple Square remains the heart of the downtown church campus.
Other sources: lds.org, Church Almanac, Shipler photograph collection
e-mail: lynn@desnews.com
Temple square
Address: 50 W. North Temple
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
Admission: Free
Features: Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Assembly Hall, Seagull Monument, North Visitors Center, South Visitors Center
For information on events held at Temple Square, see lds.org/calendar