Temple Beth-El (Texas)
| Temple Beth-El (Texas) | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
.jpg) Temple Beth-El (2017) |
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| location | Corsicana , Navarro County , Texas | ||
| Coordinates | 32 ° 5 '22.9 " N , 96 ° 28' 6.8" W | ||
| Architectural style | Orientalizing architecture | ||
| NRHP number | 86003687 | ||
| The NRHP added | 3rd February 1987 | ||
The Temple Beth-El is a synagogue in Corsicana in Navarro County , Texas . It is listed as a monument on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Building description
The Temple Beth-El is designed as a two-story, rectangular and east-facing timber frame building with a gable roof in the style of oriental architecture . The front is closed to the north and south by a tower with an onion helmet . The front view shows a classically designed gable triangle, which is flanked by elongated bulges with rising carnies at the upper end. This candle-shaped ornament is repeated in the windows of the entire building. A small wing of the building is attached to the rear of the south-eastern corner of the synagogue. Overall, this oriental-looking building shape was very popular with American synagogues until the 1920s and was based on those that had emerged in major European cities in the mid-19th century.
history
After Corsicana was connected to the railway network in 1871, the first American Jews settled in the village and were able to establish themselves there economically and culturally. By 1890, around 100 Jewish families had settled in the city and celebrated their services in different locations. In 1898 a full-time rabbi could be won for the first time for the community; shortly afterwards in the same year the community split into a reformist and an Orthodox wing. On November 8, 1898, the former decided to build Temple Beth-El, which began the following year. The synagogue was inaugurated on September 27, 1900. After the Jewish community flourished in the 1920s due to the oil boom in Navarro County and grew to almost 200 families, its decline began in the mid-1950s: While the older generation died out, the younger Corsicana turned its back, so that in 1982 fewer than ten families belonged to the community of Temple Beth-El, the structure of which had already deteriorated considerably by then. At that point the sale and demolition of the synagogue seemed inevitable. So the Navarro County Historical Society organized a nationwide initiative to preserve the Temple Beth-El. In 1982 she acquired the synagogue, which was rededicated and restored as a community center.
The Beth-El Temple has been on the National Register of Historic Places since February 3, 1987 . It is one of the few remaining structures of orientalizing architecture in the southwestern United States .
literature
- Linda Fahey, Tommy Stringer: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: Temple Beth-El. In: Texas Historical Commission Database. National Park Service 1986, accessed October 9, 2018 (39.1 MB).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Linda Fahey, Tommy Stringer: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: Temple Beth-El. P. 2.
- ↑ Linda Fahey, Tommy Stringer: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: Temple Beth-El. P. 6.
- ↑ Linda Fahey, Tommy Stringer: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: Temple Beth-El. Pp. 4-6.
- ↑ Linda Fahey, Tommy Stringer: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: Temple Beth-El. P. 6f.
- ^ Temple Beth-El in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed October 9, 2018.
- ↑ Linda Fahey, Tommy Stringer: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: Temple Beth-El. P. 4.