Mormon Temple - St. George, Utah - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The Mormon Temple (not open to non-Mormons), resting on a slight elevation is visible for miles.  The Squarely built white stucco temple has three tiers of tall round-arched windows, surmounted by a row of oval windows.  It has a well-proportioned cupola with a weather vane, and covers nearly an acre within a ten-acre tract.  Spacious green lawns, bordered with  a profusion f colorful plants, accent the snowy exterior f the structure and tend to magnify its size.  Completed in 1877, this was the first Mormon Temple erected in Utah.  At night, floodlights on the building produce a cameo-like effect.  Built on swampy ground, the foundations consist of hundreds of tons of black volcanic rock, beaten down by an old cannon used as a horsepower pile driver. - Utah: A Guide to the State, 1941, Tour 1, pg. 306.

The Temple itself is not open to the public however the grounds and visitors center are open.  The visitors center has many displays showing the construction and operation of this, the oldest of the operating LDS Temples.  Included in the displays in the visitors center is the Mexican War cannon used as a pile driver used during the construction of the Temple.   The Temple and its grounds are well maintained with Temple receiving extensive renovations in 1937-1938 and again in the early 1970's completing in 1975.