With the mass immigration of Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews to Beaufort beginning in the 1880s, the Jewish population of the town grew to well over 30 families and soon prompted the need for a formal congregation.

[1] The Jewish community prayed informally in a number of locations before obtaining space in the town's Masonic Hall and in the Beaufort Arsenal.

Granted a state charter in 1905, the congregation was formed to purchase the land near the Arsenal that became the site for their synagogue on Scott Street.

A number of members participated in the construction of the building, which was dedicated in ceremonies held on June 14, 1908, which were led by Rabbi George Solomon of Savannah, Georgia.

Cantor Sheldon Feinberg noted that "to keep any entity for this length of time, particularly a house of worship, demands a great deal of dedication on the part of the members.