To convey the Baháʼí principle of the unity of religion, Bourgeois incorporated a variety of religious architecture and symbols.

Although ʻAbdu'l-Bahá participated in a ground-breaking ceremony in 1912 that laid a cornerstone, construction began in earnest in the early 1920s and was delayed significantly through the Great Depression and World War II.

Baháʼí Houses of Worship are intended to include several social, humanitarian, and educational institutions clustered around the temple, although none have been built to such an extent.

The temples are not intended as a local meeting place, but are instead open to the public and used as a devotional space for people of any faith.

[4] A Baháʼí from Chicago named Corinne Knight True went on pilgrimage to the Ottoman province in the Levant in 1907 to visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then leader of the religion, and tell him of the growing interest in a local house of worship.

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá gave his blessing to the project, but recommended that the structure be built away from the Chicago business district, in a more quiet area near Lake Michigan.

The site chosen for this project was found by True and selected for its proximity to lake Michigan and natural elevation.

[9] True began coordinating work and acted as the treasurer of the growing effort[10] and it became a solace to her life in the face of many personal challenges.

[12] A Chicago resident named Nettie Tobin, unable to contribute any money, famously donated a discarded piece of limestone from a construction site.

[13] This stone became the symbolic cornerstone of the building when ʻAbdu'l-Bahá arrived in Wilmette in 1912 for the ground-breaking ceremony during his journeys to the West.

[18] Construction resumed as contributions from Baháʼís began to increase, and in 1930, the George A. Fuller Company was hired to complete the building's superstructure.

[19] The superstructure was completed in 1931,[20] and a year later, John Joseph Earley was hired to begin work on the building's concrete cladding.

[21] A model of the temple was placed on display at Chicago's 1933–34 Century of Progress Exposition, and people began travelling to Wilmette to see the building taking shape.

[22] The temple was featured in a privately issued postal stationery cover on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of US airmail service in 1938.

[32] Rúhíyyih Khánum, the wife of Shoghi Effendi (head of the religion after the death of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá), read a prayer at the dedication.