Baha'i Temple

Images of America: Illinois

by Candace Moore Hill

The Baha'i House of Worship sits on the shores of Lake Michigan, just 5 miles north of Chicago. How it came to be built in the heart of the United States is a story that begins with the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. Inspired by news of the first Baha'i Temple in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, members of the Chicago Baha'i House of Spirituality drafted a petition in 1903 asking for permission to begin their own. Fifty years later, in 1953, a completed Baha'i House of Worship was dedicated in Wilmette. The story of how very few believers in a new faith built the "Great Bell" of the North Shore--during the Great Depression and World War II years--is shown with archival photographs from every stage of construction up to the present. This includes ongoing restoration projects preserving the beauty of the "Temple of Light."

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2010

Reviews

[Jim]

I want to go there! Simply beautiful, the Temple itself and the gardens, a place of peace.

[Neal Stevens]

I saw this temple 10 years ago when I was a truckdriver making my way through Bears country. Now this illustrated book tells me the story of its people and construction. It's a really interesting story and Candace Moore Hill has done a wonderful job of telling a story that is, as she puts it, "the stuff of novels."

[Debbie]

A Beautiful Book. Truly a labor of love building The Bahá'í Temple.

[Paul Farahvar]

So great to hear the building of this sacred place which is a staple of Chicago. Loved learning about it!