Boise LDS Temple at night

President Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve told Saints attending the first dedicatory session that since 1939 he has known there would eventually be a temple in Boise. He was in the presidency of the Boise Stake when the First Presidency announced plans to build the first temple in Idaho, more than four decades ago. He invited Church President Heber J. Grant to visit the Idaho capital. During that visit, fifteen prominent local businessmen met with President Grant and offered to give the Church any available site in Boise if a temple were built there. But more Church members were concentrated in southeastern Idaho at the time, and Idaho Falls was selected as the temple site. President Grant told the group of businessmen, however, that when the membership increased in the Boise Area there would be a temple there.

“Today, we are witnessing the fulfilling of that prophecy made forty-five years ago,” President Benson noted. He went on to explain that the temple will serve as a beacon to both members and nonmembers. “It will be an ever-present reminder that God intends families to be eternal.” Temples are a place where the Saints can get away from the wickedness of the world and learn the order of heaven, he said. “I testify to you today that temples are a place of revelation.”

The temple dedication was a time of unprecedented rejoicing among Boise-area Saints, many of whom told temple president Seth D. Redford that it was the highlight of their lives.

A maximum of 25,000 people was expected for the dedicatory services. The attendance totaled nearly 28,000. A