In June 1997, President Gordon B. Hinckley had attended the centennial observance of the Church’s Juarez Academy in Mexico and was on his way to an airport for a flight home to Salt Lake City. . .It was then that the concept of smaller temples came to the Church President’s mind.

“I concluded we didn’t need the laundry. We didn’t need to rent temple clothing. We didn’t need eating facilities. These have been added for the convenience of the people but are not necessary [for the temple ordinances].”

All necessary features of a temple could be incorporated into a smaller structure constructed with relative rapidity, just a few months, he reflected. On a piece of paper, he sketched out a floor plan that he later turned over to architects to refine.

. . .

One such smaller temple could be constructed for about the same cost it took just to maintain a large temple in a single year, he noted. And ordinance workers would themselves maintain the smaller temples, thus further reducing costs.