(Former) B'nai Israel Synagogue - Galveston, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 29° 18.095 W 094° 47.469
15R E 326036 N 3242730
German Jews immigrated to Galveston in the 1840s; they established a Jewish cemetery in Galveston in 1852. They held the first organized Jewish services in the state in 1856. The Congregation B'nai Israel was organized in 1868 and chartering in 1870
Waymark Code: WMZMAJ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/30/2018
Views: 2
Wikipedia"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. They had invited Rabbi Jacobs of the New Orleans Portuguese Jewish Nefutzot Yehudah Congregation (later part of Touro Synagogue) to officiate; historians believe this was the first occasion when an ordained rabbi led a religious meeting in Texas.
The congregation continued to grow and, by the late 1880s, found they needed a new synagogue. They replaced the old structure on site. They commissioned Nicholas J. Clayton, who was a notable Texas architect of religious structures. His Victorian design of 1890 produced an ornately detailed synagogue that became a landmark in the city. The congregation used this building until selling it in the 1950s to the Masonic Lodge and moving to another new synagogue. The Masons simplified parts of the facade, but the basic structure remains.