In The Beginning

Congregation House of Israel of Hot Springs was organized in 1875 by 20 families, utilizing a small room as its meeting place.  It is told that the families had been worshipping together since 1872, but without a formal name.  According to some records, the first Jewish settler in Hot Springs was Jacob Kempner, who arrived in 1856 from Cracow, Galicia, and who operated the stagecoach between Little Rock and Hot Springs.  In 1876, Emanuel Burgauer, a Confederate veteran who had been taken prisoner by the Union forces at Vicksburg, was appointed by Leo Mayer, then President of the congregation, to find a suitable place for building a temple.  The Jewish services on the High Holy Days in 1875 were conducted in rented quarters on the 2^nd floor of a store adjacent to the present six-story First Federal Savings and Loan building.  In May 1881, property was purchased on Central Avenue and Olive Street. 

Photo: 1908 Picnic. Click thumbnail above to view photo and captions full size.

Fire and Flood

The first temple building was completed in 1885, but damaged by fire in 1896.  During the period that it was being rebuilt, worship services were conducted in the First Methodist Church.

The temple was included in the 33 city blocks that were consumed by flames in the “Great Fire” of February 25, 1905, and all the temple records were lost.  In May of that year, the property was sold and the current property (corner of Quapaw and Market streets) was purchased. Another fire on September 16, 1913, engulfed the building, and again, many precious historical records were lost.  During that fire, it is reported that Billy Gross (founder of Gross Mortuary and great uncle of Fannie McLaughlin) rushed into the flames and saved the Torah scroll.  That scroll is still presently in use in the congregation.  And in 1924, the “great flood” of that year took its toll and virtually all remaining historical records for the congregation were lost. 

Photo: 1965 groundbreaking. Click thumbnail above to view photo and captions full size.

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