Hyde and Wilford Woodruff of the Council of the Twelve Apostles.
The Saints had met the requirement made of them by the Lord in the building of another House to His name. Ordinance work continued a few months more, even though the exodus of the people was in progress. In September, 1846, the Nauvoo Temple was in possession of the mob; and the people whose energy and substance, whose sweat and blood had been spent in its rearing, were driven into the wilderness or slain. For two years the once hallowed structure stood as an abandoned building; then on November 19, 1848, it fell a prey to the wanton act of an incendiary. After the conflagration, only blackened walls remained where once had stood so stately a sanctuary. Strange to say, an attempt was made by the Icarians, a local organization, to rebuild on the ruins, the professed intent being to provide for a school; but while the work was in its early stages a tornado demolished the greater part of the walls. This occurred on May 27, 1850. What remained of the Temple has been taken away as souvenirs or used as building material for other structures. Stones of the Temple have been carried into most of the states of the Union and beyond the seas, but upon the site where once stood the House of the Lord not one stone is left upon another. Before the demolition of the Nauvoo Temple was complete, the Latter-day Saints had established themselves in the vales of Utah, and were already preparing to build another and a greater sanctuary to the name and service of their God.
