President Hinckley heaves the first shovel at the Nauvoo temple site Sunday
(BYU) Daily Universe 24Oct99 N1
By Diana Van Orden: NewsNet Staff Writer

Just over 150 years after the Nauvoo Temple was destroyed, President Gordon B. Hinckley broke ground at the Temple site to rebuild it. The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by President Hinckley, Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve and Elder Donald L. Staheli of the Seventy, as well as a 100-voice choir of senior missionaries serving in Nauvoo and members of the Nauvoo and surrounding stakes.

Like the original building, the temple will be 128 feet long, 88 feet wide and 65 feet high, with a tower and spire rising an additional 100 feet. The interior will be modified from the original design and also have about 50,000 square feet of floorspace. The Church had also hoped to use rock from the same quarry that was used to build the original building, but the rock from the quarry was not as stable as required, so limestone from a quarry 11 miles south of town will be used instead.

The Temple's district is one of the smallest in the Church, with just four stakes and 8,000 to 10,000 members.