St. George Tabernacle

History

Construction of the St. George Tabernacle began in June 1863 using locally quarried red sandstone, with labor and materials contributed by the early Latter-day Saint settlers. The building has served as a place of worship and community gathering since 1869 and was completed in 1876. Its white spire and clock tower remain a centerpiece of downtown St. George. A major restoration between 2016 and 2018 returned the interior and exterior to their nineteenth-century appearance.

Tabernacle, not temple

The two are routinely confused, and the difference is the single most useful thing for a visitor to know. A tabernacle is a public meeting hall — used for worship, conferences, concerts and civic gatherings, and open to anyone. A temple is reserved for members of the church in good standing and is not open to the public. St. George has both, a few streets apart, and the tabernacle is the one you can walk into.

The building itself

That it exists at all is remarkable. The settlers who built it had arrived in 1861 to a hard desert posting, were struggling to grow cotton, and were short of nearly everything — and they spent thirteen years on a sandstone meeting house with a clock tower. Timber was hauled from the Pine Valley Mountains and the stone quarried locally.

Visiting

The tabernacle stands at 18 S Main Street. Guided tours cover the craftsmanship and the pioneer history and take about half an hour.

See also historic sites in St. George and historic downtown St. George.