Prince Street Synagogue

Prince Street Synagogue (Oheb Shalom), in the Springfield/Belmont neighborhood, is the oldest synagogue building still standing in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States.[1][2]

Documentation records note Prince Street in Newark, New Jersey as a being one of the earliest, relatively clandestine places of Jewish settlement and worship (primarily Sephardic Jews of Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian descent) in the colonial and early American eras.

The later arriving Ashkenazi Jews of Newark, New Jersey accommodated to the areas in and around Prince Street, named for one of the original anglicized Sephardic family names.

History

The modest, Moorish Revival building at 32 Prince Street was built in 1884 for Oheb Shalom Congregation, a congregation of Bohemian Jews. The congregation has since moved to South Orange. The building served as the home of the Metropolitan Baptist Church from 1940 to 1993. In 1990 it was slated for destruction as part of land clearance to enable the construction of Newark's Society Hill housing development. Historic preservationist Mark W. Gordon led a movement to preserve the historic building.[3][4]

It has been restored by Greater Newark Conservancy and is now used as an environmental center.[5] It was listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on January 16, 1990.[6][7] The brick, Moorish Revival synagogue features windows with Horseshoe arches, an entrance arch with red and white Voussoirs, and twin towers topped by modest domes.

See also

References
  1. Congregation Oheb-Shalom Archived 2007-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The New Jersey Churchscape: Encountering Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Churches, Frank L. Greenagel, Rutgers University Press, 2001, p. 93
  3. Rediscovering Jewish Infrastructure: Update on United States Nineteenth Century Synagogues, Mark W. Gordon, American Jewish History 84.1 (1996) 11-27. 2019 article update.
  4. "Sanctuary's Fate in the Balance," New York times, May 30, 1993
  5. New Jersey Churchscape
  6. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Essex County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – Historic Preservation Office. September 29, 2022. p. 21. listed as the Oheb Shalom Synagogue (Metropolitan Baptist Church) (ID#1299)
  7. "A History of the City of Newark, New Jersey.", embracing Practically Two and a Half Centuries 1666 - 1913, published by the Lewis Historical Publishing Col. New York & Chicago, in 1913

Synagogue images 40.73612°N 74.185393°W / 40.73612; -74.185393

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