[3] Commonly considered the pioneer Jew of St. Louis was Wolf Bloch, a native of Schwihau, Bohemia, who is reported to have settled there in 1816.
[Source : "The Philipsons"] The early arrivals were not religiously observant and probably intermarried and in this way may have lost their identity; for it was not until the Jewish New Year of 1836 that the first religious services were held, when ten men rented a little room over Max's Grocery and Restaurant, on the corner of Second and Spruce Streets (now occupied by the St. Louis Arch Grounds).
In 1866 Congregation Shaare Emeth was organized on 17th and Pine, with Rabbi S. H. Sonnenschein as its spiritual leader, and Alexander Suss as its first president.
In 1886 a number of the members, being dissatisfied, banded together, and with Rabbi Sonnenschein organized Congregation Temple Israel, with Isaac Schwab as president.
The B'nai El congregation used as its first burial-ground a plot of land on Gravois road, now enlarged and known as Mount Sinai Cemetery.
The Hebrew Free and Industrial School Society, an organization for the instruction of children in Jewish history and religion, was founded by Rabbi Henry J. Messing in 1879, with J.
The United Jewish Charities being in need of funds in 1898, a large fair was held for one week in the Coliseum of the Exposition Building, under the auspices of a special committee presided over by Julius Lesser, with the result that the Charities received the sum of $37,000, one-half of which was appropriated toward the relief fund, while the remainder was used for erecting a building to be used by the Jewish charitable and educational bodies of St. Louis.
The title to this building is vested in the United Jewish Charitable and Educational Associations, the first president of which is Elias Michaels.
The spirit of consolidation which was prevalent during the year 1901 affected those Jews who were interested in the several charitable and educational institutions of the city, and who believed that by a stronger union more work could be accomplished and larger contributions secured.
Accordingly, on November 7, 1901, a committee of 100 persons assembled at the Columbian Club, and it was decided to organize the Jewish Charitable and Educational Union, with Moses Fraley as president.
The first national Conference of Jewish Charities was held at St. Louis in 1885, with Marcus Bernheimer as president and Albert Arnstein as secretary.
This organization in 1878 appointed a committee to solicit funds and distribute them among those refugees who were coming to St. Louis on account of the spread of yellow fever in the Southern States.
Isaac Schwab, Jonathan Rice, Jacob J. Wertheimer, Elias Michaels, Nathan Frank, and Charles A. Stix were members of the board of directors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, under whose auspices the World's Fair was held in St. Louis during the year 1904.
Among the Jews of St. Louis who have held positions of honor and trust in the community and have been prominent in the different public exchanges of the city may be mentioned: Nathan Frank, owner of the St. Louis Star, a daily newspaper, who represented the city in Congress; Moses N. Sale, a judge of the Circuit Court; Albert Arnstein and Moses Fraley, former members of the city council; Meyer Rosenblatt, who served as collector of revenue for the city; Louis Aloe, a member of the board of election commissioners; Elias Michaels, a member of the school board, and at one time president of the Mercantile Club; Marcus Bernheimer, a former president of the Merchants' Exchange; and Jacob D. Goldman, who has held the same office in the Cotton Exchange.
[7][8][9][10] [11][12][13] On October 8th, 1977, white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin hid in bushes near the Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel synagogue, shooting 3 Jewish people exiting Sabbath services.