International Jewish Cemetery Project
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies

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Anniston Jewish history with photographs [January 2009]

Temple Beth El:  Reform. Temple Beth El, 1301 Quintard Avenue, Anniston, Alabama 36202, 256-236-9249. Romanesque Revival-Eclectic building dates from 1891/3. photos [January 2009] History.  [December 2000]

Synagogue

  • 2009: Temple Beth El history: "Anniston, Alabama's permanent Jewish community started when Leon Ullman, a merchant doing business in Talladega, Alabama, a town about thirty miles from Anniston, chose Anniston for a new business. ... Anniston, founded in 1872, had in 1883 changed from a private company town to an open one as the railroad reached the city. Anniston had grown up around an iron ore furnace and the homes of the furnace workers. ... As in most other settlements, when enough Jews have settled in an area, they established a formal religious community, including a congregation, a place to bury their dead, and a religious school for the children. By the late 1880s there were enough Jews in Anniston to form a congregation; thus on April 1, 1888 Anniston's Jews founded a congregation... The early Jews had no permanent house of worship; they met in each other's homes and in private halls...in the spring of 1891 the women purchased land at the corner of Quintard Avenue and Thirteenth Street to build a house of worship, Beth El, or House of G-d... lot, purchased from the Anniston Land Company, cost $1500 ...the building's cost ... $2472.36. The sanctuary was dedicated December 8, 1893...Beth El has the oldest building in the state continuously and currently being used for Jewish worship. Landmarked1985. emple Beth El is the oldest building continously used for Jewish worship in Alabama."
    • Hillside Cemetery:  Temple Beth El Section
      • Used by Temple Beth-El; BURIAL LIST. [January 2009]
      • Follow 11th Street east of downtown. Jewish section established 1888. Includes grave of Harry Shiretzki, AnnistonĀ¹s police chief, who was killed by bootleggers in 1914. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,  [May 2005]
      • burial list and photos. [Mar 2014]