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Temple Emanu-El

Temple Emanu-El Temple Emanu-El - Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Temple Emanu-El in Helena, Montana, United States, was the first Jewish synagogue to be constructed between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon. It was completed in 1891. The once-thriving Jewish community of Helena declined to the point that by the 1930s they could no longer maintain the building, and it was sold to the State of Montana, which added a second floor, converted it to office space and removed most religious symbolism from the building, though kept the unique stained glass windows. Eventually, the building fell into disuse by the state other than storage space, and so it was purchased by the Catholic Diocese of Helena, then sold back to the Montana Jewish project which owns it today and uses it as a center for Montana's Jewish community. Read more on Wikipedia

Source: en.wikipedia.org