[1] By the Galveston Movement, from 1907 to 1914, it helped attract thousands of eastern European Jewish immigrants to the city, Gulf Coast, and the middle region of the United States.

[1] Abraham Cohen Labatt, one of the pioneers of Reform Judaism in the United States, moved to Galveston in 1878 and joined the congregation.

[2] Beginning in 1888, Rabbi Henry Cohen led the congregation for more than five decades, through periods of rapid immigration of Jews from eastern Europe and two world wars.

They helped to direct many of the passengers to new homes in Texas and beyond, and aided them in finding housing and work, as well as adjusting to American life.

[3] Through the combined efforts of Rabbi Cohen and others, historians estimate that more than ten thousand Jewish immigrants passed through Galveston, with many settling there, in Texas and the South.

[3] By 1870, the congregation was ready to build a sanctuary and invited Mr. Tuck, the grand master of the Masonic Lodge of Texas, to lay the cornerstone.

[5] The entry to the community house has a carved limestone portal and a gate, which both feature the "Magen David" as the primary iconographic element.