History of the Jews in Denver
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The history of the Jews in Denver, Colorado extends from the discovery of gold in 1858 to the present day. Early
Early history
By the year after the discovery of gold, 1859, there were about a dozen Jews in Denver, mostly from German or Central European backgrounds. Among them were four men – Hyman and Fred Salomon, Leopold Mayer, and Abraham Jacobs – who would go on to serve on the Denver City Council. They are also thought to have held the first religious service of any kind in Denver, in September 1859. In 1860, the first Jewish organization, the Hebrew Burial and Prayer Society, was formed. A B'nai B'rith lodge was started in 1872, and Colorado's first synagogue, Temple Emanuel, was established in 1874.[1] In 1889, Wolfe Londoner became the city's first (and thus far, only) Jewish mayor, although his tenure was short as he had to step down over corruption charges.[2]
The wave of
Key in the formation of the city's charitable organizations, Jewish and otherwise, was Frances Wisebart Jacobs. She was instrumental in the founding of both the National Jewish Hospital and the community chest, which would later become United Way, and her tireless work on behalf of the needy earned her a tribute in the stained glass of the Colorado capitol rotunda, one of 16 pioneers and the only woman depicted.[5]
Following a failed attempt to build a Jewish agriculture-based colony in Cotopaxi by a group of Orthodox families who had immigrated from the Russian Empire and HIAS,[6] Denver's West Colfax neighborhood and West Side became home to a considerable Jewish population.[7] In 1897, the former colonists helped to found the neighborhood's first synagogue, Congregation Zera Abraham, which remains an active Orthodox synagogue today.[8]
20th century
At the turn of the 20th century, the Orthodox community in the West Side was continuously expanding by establishing synagogues,
After running away from home as a teenager, future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir lived in the West Side of Denver from 1913 to 1914 with her sister, who had moved to the city due to her tuberculosis. It was in Denver that Golda met her future husband, Morris Meyerson (Myerson), and in her autobiography, My Life, she wrote "to the extent that my own future convictions were shaped and given form, and ideas were discarded or accepted by me while I was growing up, those talk-filled nights in Denver played a considerable role."[9] The home she lived in with her sister is now preserved as the Golda Meir House Museum.[1]
The Denver community also faced
West Colfax remained majority Jewish from the 1920s until the 1950s.[7] In the 1940s, after an effective antibiotic to cure tuberculosis was discovered and the number of deaths dropped dramatically, the sanitariums in the city and state slowly shrunk their operations or gradually switched to another medical focus.[16] By the 1950s, the Jewish community of the West Side was beginning to spread out to other areas, most notably the East Side, and later, suburbs. While the Hebrew Educational Alliance school was established in 1920, the 1950s and 1960s saw the opening of the Hillel Academy, Beth Jacob High School for Girls (a Bais Yaakov), and Yeshiva Toras Chaim. In 1975, the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver was founded by Dr. Stanley M. Wagner. The Jewish population of Denver was estimated to be between 23,500 and 30,000 in 1968, and roughly 40,000 in the 1970s as more and more of the community moved into the suburbs.[1]
From 1978 to 1983, the Denver Jewish community was home to a pioneering
In 1984, outspoken and controversial Jewish radio host Alan Berg was killed by white supremacists in Denver.[19]
Modern community
In 2007, the Jewish population of the
In addition to its Center for Judaic Studies, the University of Denver is also home to the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, the Beck Archives, and the Holocaust Awareness Institute. Several Jewish sites in Denver have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Isaac Solomon Synagogue, the Samsonite House, the Hill Section of Golden Hill Cemetery, and Temple Emanuel's Old Pearl Street Temple. There are Jewish Community Center branches in Denver and Boulder, and other cultural institutions like the Mizel Museum and the Mizel Arts and Culture Center.[21] Numerous nationwide Jewish organizations have offices in Denver, including the Anti-Defamation League, Hadassah, and the National Council of Jewish Women.[1]
Notable people
- Otto Mears (1840–1931), prominent early Coloradan who built roads and railways in areas with difficult terrains.
- Wolfe Londoner (1842–1912), first Jew to become Mayor of Denver.
- Frances Wisebart Jacobs (1843–1892), pioneering philanthropist.
- David Edelstadt (1866–1892), Yiddish-language anarchist poet.
- Simon Guggenheim (1867–1941), United States Senator representing Colorado.
- Samsonite Corporation.
- Yehuda Leib Ginsburg (1888–1946), author of influential commentaries on midrashim.
- H. Leivick (1888–1962), Yiddish-language writer and poet.
- State of Israel.
- Josef Korbel (1909–1977), Czech-American diplomat and political scientist, father of Madeleine Albright.
- Miriam Goldberg, (1916–2017), longtime publisher of Intermountain Jewish News.
- Barbie doll.
- Sheldon Beren (1922–1996), oil executive and major Orthodox philanthropist.
- Alan Berg (1934–1984), slain attorney and talk radio host.
- Madeleine Albright (1937–2022), politician and diplomat.
- Larry Mizel (1942 – ), businessman and philanthropist.
- TeleTechand philanthropist.
- Michael Bennet (1964 – ), current United States Senator representing Colorado.
- T.J. Miller (1981 – ), comedian, actor, writer, and producer.
- Jared Polis (1975 – ), U.S. Representative and first Jewish Governor of Colorado
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "The Jewish Community of Denver". Beit Hatfutsot Open Databases Project. The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
- ^ "Famous Faces at Fairmount: Wolfe Londoner" (PDF). Fairmount Heritage Foundation.
- ^ Ancar, Rachel. "A Double-edged Scalpel: Colorado's Healthy Reputation and Its Tuberculosis Struggle" (PDF). Historical Studies Journal. 31 (Spring 2014). University of Colorado Denver: 1–19.
- ^ Abrams, Jeanne. "Unsere Leit ("Our People") : Anna Hillkowitz and the Development of the East European Jewish Woman Professional in America" (PDF). American Jewish Archives: 276.
- ^ "Pioneering Jewish Women of Colorado". University Libraries Online Exhibits. University of Denver.
- ^ Rovner, Adam. "When Jewish Colonists Prospected for Utopia in Colorado". The Forward.
- ^ a b c "West Colfax Neighborhood History". Denver Public Library.
- ^ "Our History". Congregation Zera Abraham.
- ^ Provizer, Norman; Wright, Claire. "Golda Meir: An Outline of a Unique Life". Golda Meir Center. Metropolitan State University of Denver.
- ^ a b c Lee, Michael (2012). "Dirty Jew - Dirty Mexican: Denver's 1949 Lake Junior High School Gang Battle and Jewish Racial Identity in Colorado". Ethnic Studies Review. 35 (135): 135–155.
- ^ a b c Lee, Michael Adam (Spring 2017). "The Politics of Antisemitism in Denver, Colorado, 1898-1984". History Graduate Theses & Dissertations. University of Colorado at Boulder.
- ^ "Victim of Mob is Dead". Aspen Daily Times. February 15, 1906. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ "The Jewish Outlook Editorial". The Jewish Outlook. January 25, 1907. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ "Religious Liberty Notes" (PDF). Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. March 8, 1906. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ "When the KKK Ruled Colorado: Not So Long Ago". Denver Public Library History. Denver Public Library.
- ^ Lewis, Shanna. "How Tuberculosis Fueled Colorado's Growth". Colorado Public Radio.
- ^ "Conversion & Patrilineality: Denver's internationally unique joint conversion program breaks down" (PDF). Intermountain Jewish Jews. December 2, 1983. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
- ^ Briggs, Kenneth (March 23, 1984). "Rabbi's Denver Project Fuels Fight on Converts". The New York Times.
- ^ "The murder of Alan Berg in Denver: 25 years later". The Denver Post. June 17, 2009.
- ^ Leppek, Chris. "BMH-BJ resigns from OU, ponders its future direction". Intermountain Jewish News.
- ^ "History". JewishColorado.