Temple Israel was erected at 201 West 4th Street in

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

, during the summer of 1884 in less than two months. The Temple Israel building is a rare example of a frontier synagogue.

History

The small, ,

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...

structure was designed by George E. King and constructed by Robert Murdock for $4,000 on land donated by the silver baron

Horace A. W. Tabor Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...

. Dedicated during services for

Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...

on September 19, 1884, the

Reform synagogue Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

served an interesting group of Jewish pioneers. Typically downtown merchants, they were an active element in the larger community as exemplified by David May, merchant and founder of the May department stores, County treasurer, vice president of the Congregation Israel, and chairman of its building committee. The congregation splintered in 1892 when the more orthodox members created

Knesseth The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

Israel. Regular services in Temple Israel ceased by 1908 and the building was entirely out of service by 1914. Steve Malin acquired the building in 1937, stripping it of the steeples and re-roofing it. He lived with his wife and two daughters in rooms in the back whilst conducting his automobile radiator repair business in the front. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it functioned as a dormitory/boarding house for mine workers and was sold in 1955 to the St. George Episcopal Church across West 4th Street to be their parsonage. The building returned to private ownership in 1966 and was subsequently converted into a four unit apartment house. Th
Temple Israel Foundation
bought the building in 1992Warranty Deed recorded in Lake County in Book 502, Page No. 359. and, after a fire in 2006, restored the synagogue to its original condition. The Temple Israel building now occasionally hosts services but mainly functions as a museum dedicated to the pioneer Jews of Leadville. Hebrew Cemetery - Entrance - Leadville CO - August 2015

Hebrew Cemetery - Entrance - Leadville CO - August 2015

Besides the synagogue building, the Temple Israel Foundation also maintains the Leadville Hebrew Cemetery, to which it gained title in 1993. The cemetery is located outside of Leadville, about 3/4 of a mile from the synagogue. Records show that 132 people were interred in this cemetery from its establishment in 1880 through 1981, though only 5 of those died after 1930. 59 of the original headstones remain, and the Foundation has provided markers for those that are missing. The Foundation opened a section of the cemetery for new interments in 2001 with space for 51 graves, of which 8 were occupied as of 2015. The cemetery is largely maintained through a volunteer effort led by the

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

chapter of

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

References

External links

* http://www.jewishleadville.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Israel (Leadville, Colorado) Carpenter Gothic synagogues Carpenter Gothic architecture in Colorado Gothic Revival architecture in Colorado Museums in Lake County, Colorado Buildings and structures in Lake County, Colorado Synagogues completed in 1884 Historic district contributing properties in Colorado National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Colorado Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Jewish museums in the United States Synagogues preserved as museums Leadville Historic District History museums in Colorado