Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 2, 2015

Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society 1821

A crowd gathered near the Capitol July 19, 1971 as witnesses to Madisons first ever transported-for-preservation building made its way from Washington Avenue to James Madison Park. Gates of Heaven Synagogue, now used as a voting location and various celebrations, went mobile for a day as it was thrown on wheels and saved from demolition.

The edifice was a creation of prominent local architect, August Kutzbock, known for his Reconstructionist style also seen inPierce House, The Van Slyke House and the second Capitol building. The current Capitol is the third, so far.

It was originally constructed at 214 W. Washington in 1863 after a group of 17 Jewish families put together $4,000to construct the first synagogue in the state of Wisconsin, according to the 1970 Register of Historic Places Nomination.

Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society 36489

Financial issues plagued the congregation and during the panic of 1887 they leased the building and in 1916 sold the building. Its subsequent string of occupants included a Unitarian Society, the Womens Temperance Union, a Lutheran church, an undertaking parlor, a temporary recording studio, a tea room, federal storage, a veterinary clinic, offices, a beauty shop and a dentist office. Finally, showing its age in 1970, the building sat vacant, and along with the rest of the block, was slated for demolition.

The synagogue was largely constructed using sandstone from a local quarry, historian Dick Wagner said. In fact, during the era of the synagogues construction, Madison experienced a golden age of architecture with a multitude of German and Swiss masons building many of the houses that sit around the Capitol. Kutzbock used the distinctive Madisonian sandstone on the Peirce House and many of his creations adorning the Mansion Hill district.

The news that the historic building was to be torn down pulled at the heartstrings of many historians and members of the Jewish community, and community members felt an approaching threat from an attitude of commercial institutions, which would endanger landmark sites, according to a news report from 1970 from Wisconsin Historical Societys archives.

the decision to demolish the Old Synagogue was apparently made in silence and permitted by city officials in the most hushed of legal tones, according to the news report.

Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society 36492

Excerpt from:

Faith on wheels: James Madison Park synagogues historical pilgrimage

Category: Synagogue
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