[4][5] They founded St. Louis School for Judaism in September 1953 and organized the synagogue in 1956, choosing the name "Temple Emanuel" on December 16, 1956.

[12][13] In 2010, Temple Emanuel mounted an exhibition of black and white photographs of Albanian Muslims who rescued 2,000 Jews during the Holocaust.

[17] Temple Emanuel instituted its Sunday services in 1958, decades after the Sunday-Sabbath movement in American Reform Judaism had largely ended.

[17][19] Since 1977, the temple's "Cantorial Soloist" has been Malachi Owens, a non-Jewish African American who worked as an electrical engineer and has also been a Baptist minister since 1998.

[20][21][22] Its 1962 building in the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur, Missouri, was designed by architect William Bernoudy, of the firm Bernoudy-Mutrux-Bauer, which was known for its originality.

[12] The St. Louis County Historic Buildings Commission has named the synagogue an outstanding example of mid-century Modern architecture worthy of preservation.