This post was written by Dina Posner, an intern at the Museum at Eldridge Street. Dina is a candidate for a Masters degree in Historic Preservation at Pratt Institute.
Last month we posted a blog which focused on New York’s oldest Jewish congregation, Shearith Israel, founded in 1654 in Lower Manhattan. Given its age, and the fact that the congregation still exists to this day, it is no surprise that Shearith Israel has moved to several new locations over its almost 300 year tenure (their current building on 70th Street and Central Park West is their 5th location!).
In that blog, we also mentioned that Eldridge Street Synagogue represents another important first for Jewish New York. It is the first great house of worship built in America by Eastern European Jews. But like Shearith Israel, the congregation of Eldridge Street existed long before they were able to construct the grand and purpose-built edifice that we enjoy today.
Before moving to 12 Eldridge Street in 1886-1887, the congregation was known as Beth Hamedrash. Many congregations at the time met in inexpensive and makeshift spaces, and Beth Hamedrash was no different. In the 1850s, they secured space in a former Methodist church located at 78 Allen Street, between Broome and Grand. An article published in The New York Herald on June 21st, 1858 recounts the “Interesting Jewish Ceremony” marking the consecration of the synagogue at 78 Allen. The article recounts, in great detail, the content of the ceremony including the types of prayers recited.
Beth Hamedrash remained at this location for about 30 years. We can trace their next move, to the synagogue’s current location, by looking at historic fire insurance maps. Fire insurance maps are a great tool that preservationists and historians use to trace how the built environment changed over time in New York City. The maps were produced by several different companies in varying years, and cover all five boroughs!
This first map below shows Eldridge Street in 1857. The red box outlines the structures at 12, 14, and 16 Eldridge Street. Fire insurance maps illustrate the building material of every structure on the map by color coding – yellow represents a wood-frame building, while the pink and blue colors denote masonry and stone buildings. As you can see, at this point the lots contain a few wood-frame buildings. It is important to note how many wood-frame buildings still existed on the Lower East Side at this time – the neighborhood was much less dense and developed than it would be just a few decades later. Virtually none of these early wooden structures remain in the Lower East Side.
The second map below shows 78 Allen Street in 1857. Looking inside the red box, you can see that the lots contained a hodgepodge of both wood-frame and masonry buildings. However, while some important buildings were labeled to show their use (note the Presbyterian church labeled across Allen Street to the left), 78 Allen did not make the cut. If it had, 78 Allen would have been labeled a “Methodist Church” or just “Church” at this point. Perhaps it wasn’t labeled as such because of the building’s small size compared to many other labeled structures on the map.
By 1881, A Jewish Directory For the City of New York published in the The Jewish Messenger lists Beth Hamedrash residing at No. 78 Allen Street. Our next map of Eldridge Street is from 1891, which is about three years after the congregation had purchased the lots at 12, 14, and 16 Eldridge Street, built their very own grand synagogue building, moved the ark by hand from 78 Allen to 12 Eldridge, and changed their name from Beth Hamedrash to Kahal Adath Jeshurun (which translates to “community of the people of Israel”). Looking in the red box, we can see a large masonry building, which was finally distinct enough to merit a label on the map. A brief blurb published in the American Hebrew in September of 1887 “the dedication of the New Synagogue of the Congregation Adath Jeshurun, at 12, 14, and 16 Eldridge Street,” just in time for the Jewish High Holidays!
So what happened to the structures at 78 Allen Street? Well, the map from 1891 shows relatively little change at this location, however, the below map, from the 1950s, shows a major change which came as a result of urban renewal efforts on the Lower East Side. Allen Street was widened in the 1930s, and all of the structures on the easterly side of the street were razed to make way for for this project, including our congregation’s old synagogue building at 78 Allen. Today, the address 78 Allen simply takes you to the back of a tenement building on Orchard Street. (If you’ve ever been to the Tenement Museum, you’re familiar with this – their tenement building facing Orchard Street has a backyard that opens onto Allen Street. Historically, that backyard would have connected to the backyard for a building on Allen Street, but the widening of Allen razed all those buildings and exposed Orchard Street’s backyards.)
These maps provide a window into a significant aspect of Eldridge Street’s history and the history of the Lower East Side. The congregation started with humble beginnings as its members adjusted to their new American environment. At this time, praying in a former church was a practical rather than an ideal scenario. The move to the grand structure at 12 Eldridge Street was significant because it marked a certain amount of success amongst the congregation of immigrants. The razing of the old structure at 78 Allen is also significant as it is just one example of the thousands of historic structures that were lost to the massive urban renewal projects on the Lower East Side, and across the city. It is also a prime example of the wealth of Jewish History that lacks visibility in the neighborhood, but can be explored by digging a little deeper.