The Founding of Bahá'í Temple Unity

A retelling based on the reports of the early Bahá'í Temple Unity conventions in the Star of the West (vol. 1, no. 4; vol. 2, no. 10; vol. 13, no. 5) and on Shoghi Effendi's account in God Passes By, chapters XVI and XXIII.

In March 1903 the House of Spirituality, the elected body of the Bahá'ís of Chicago, wrote to 'Abdu'l-Bahá asking permission to build a House of Worship in America, following the example of the believers in 'Ishqábád. He gave His approval in a Tablet revealed in June of that year.

The American community was small and spread across a large country, and no one city could build a Temple on its own. In November 1907 representatives of the believers from different parts of the country met in Chicago and appointed a committee of nine to find a site. By April 1908 two thousand dollars had been paid for two building lots near the shore of Lake Michigan.

In March 1909, following instructions received from 'Abdu'l-Bahá, a convention was called. Thirty-nine delegates, representing thirty-six cities, met in Chicago. On 21 March 1909 they established a permanent national organization, the Bahá'í Temple Unity. It was incorporated under the laws of Illinois, with authority to hold title to the Temple property and to find the means to build it. The delegates framed a constitution, elected an Executive Board, and authorized the Board to complete the purchase of the land. Corinne True of Chicago served as its financial secretary.

On that same day, Naw-Rúz, 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid the remains of the Báb to rest in the Shrine He had built on Mount Carmel. In a Tablet to Annie Boylan of New York, which Corinne True later quoted in the Star of the West, He wrote of the two events:

"Praise be to God that in the blessed day of Narooz the sanctified remains of his holiness the Bab ... after sixty years of wandering were carried to the most beautiful spot of the Mountain of the Lord, the Mount of Carmel; and one of the divine miracles was this, that in that very day the Convention of the Bahai Delegates was inaugurated in Chicago, and unanimously and effectively rules were adopted for the building of the Temple. Consider thou how heavenly Providence has effected such confirmation that these two great matters transpired in the same day."

Gifts came from far beyond America. At the 1910 convention Mrs. True reported that more than twenty thousand dollars had been received since March 1909, from India, Persia, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Russia, Egypt, from cities in Europe, from Canada, Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands and Mauritius, and from towns and cities across the United States. At the same convention a Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was read that described the generosity of the believers in the East: "They displayed magnanimity at any cost to such an extent that some of them sold portions of their clothing on the streets."

In May 1912, during His journey through America, 'Abdu'l-Bahá dedicated the Temple grounds at Wilmette, and He addressed the last session of that year's Temple Unity convention in Chicago. The purchase of the land was completed in 1914. The building rose slowly over the following decades and was dedicated in 1953.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see the convention reports in the Star of the West and Shoghi Effendi's God Passes By.

Editors, S. O. T. W.. (1910). *Star of the West*. Bahai News Service. https://bahai-library.com/star_of_the_west