B'nai Abraham Synagogue in Virginia, Minnesota
as it now exists.
1910 Virginia Enterprise Newspaper
listing donors. The cost of building the Synagogue was reported to be $10,000.
To calculate what these amounts are worth in 2006 dollars based on GDP (Gross Domestic Production) multiply by 390.
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Jewish settler’s experience, similar to the experience of so many ethnic and religious groups who settled on the Iron Range, found that it was important to newcomers that they maintain their unique religious identity
Toward that end four congregations were formed, each with its own synagogue. The only building remaining as a synagogue structure is B'nai Abraham in Virginia.
The Virginia synagogue, B’nai Abraham, was dedicated in 1909. Built of red brick with beautiful stained glass windows, it was described in the local press at the time of its dedication as “the most beautiful church (sic) on the Iron Range.” Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s, the only synagogue in Minnesota to be so honored, B’nai Abraham continued to function as a synagogue until the last decade of the 20th century.
Agadath Achim Synagogue in Hibbing
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The Hibbing synagogue, Agudath Achim congregation bought the Swedish Evangelical Emanuel Lutheran Church from the Oliver Mining Co. in 1922 and had it moved from North Hibbing to 2nd Avenue West. The steeple was removed and the interior reconfigured for use as a Jewish house of worship. The congregation disbanded by the 1980s when the structure was sold and turned into an apartment buiilding.
Agudas Achim Synagogue in Eveleth
photo courtesy of Jack Siegel
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The Eveleth synagogue, Agudas Achim, was a reconfigured Catholic Church purchased in 1909 and then moved to a new location and remodeled for use as a Jewish house of worship. The congregation disbanded by the early 1970s and the building was transformed back into a church and later demolished.
The known photographs of the Chisholm Synagogue were taken during its demolition in the 1960s. |
The Chisholm synagogue, B'nai Zion, was built a in 1913. The building and land were sold to a church in the 1960s and a home for the pastor was built on the site. The only known surviving photographs of the synagogue show it in the process of being demolished.
It is essential that the contributions made by each ethnic group that settled on the Range not be forgotten. That is one reason why the beautiful synagogue erected in Virginia must be maintained; it is a visual reminder of the region’s religious and ethnic diversity. Another reason is that the building serve as a gathering space and social hall where the contributions made by the region’s Jewish community can be remembered, and where exhibits, conferences, and programs will honor the contributions made by all the many people who came to call the Iron Range home. In particular, people must be reminded of the often heroic efforts made by the Range’s early settlers to retain their religious and ethnic identity and to pass it on to future generations.
The Friends of B’nai Abraham Synagogue is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the history of Jewis on the Iron Range and reuse of the one remaining Jewish monument on the Iron Range, the B’nai Abraham Synagogue in Virginia. One of the goals of the Friends to see that this structure become a center for the celebration of the Iron Range’s cultural and spiritual diversity.
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