Though Congregation K.I.N.S. dates its time in the Rogers Park area starting in the 1950s, the synagogue's history goes back to the earliest days of Jewish immigration in Chicago. The synagogue had initially been formed in 1922 in the Lawndale neighborhood in order to meet the needs of conservative Jews who had moved there from the area around West Maxwell Street, which had been the center of Chicago's Jewish life since the late 1800s. This connection between K.I.N.S. and an upwardly mobile community would become central to its history. Because in 1955 the Lawndale synagogue would merge with another community in West Ridge which had been organized in 1951 called the West Rogers Park Congregation. As before, the new Congregation K.I.N.S. provided space for conservative and, increasingly, orthodox Jews who were leaving areas like Lawndale for neighborhoods like Rogers Park. The congregation remains a vibrant and active orthodox community today.
While most of Chicago’s Jewish population had lived in the Lawndale neighborhood since the early 1900s, after World War II, many Jewish families began moving north to the Rogers Park neighborhood due to increasing prosperity and decreasing restrictions on where they could live. As more Jewish people moved into Rogers Park, new synagogues were founded, including West Rogers Park Congregation, which was a Traditional synagogue founded by ten families. At the time, West Rogers Park Congregation did not have their own building and so they began meeting in a storefront at 2642 W. Pratt Boulevard in April 1951 (the exact storefront is in the middle of this picture, where the black and white window signs are located). They did not intend to stay in that storefront for long though, as evidenced by the fact that their rabbi, Rabbi Louis N. Levy, purchased land for their own building a month later in March 1951. By September 1952, West Rogers Park Congregation had moved into their own building located at 2800 W. North Shore.
After World War I, many Jewish people in Chicago began moving from Maxwell Street, where the earliest Jewish immigrants had settled, to the Lawndale neighborhood. Moving to a new neighborhood meant that many new congregations were founded as well, one of which was K.I.N.S. This item is a booklet written in Yiddish that contains the original articles of incorporation for K.I.N.S., dated back to 1926. While there is evidence that K.I.N.S. existed earlier than 1926, this is the first known official document produced by K.I.N.S. leadership. The inside text is meant to be read right-to-left instead of left-to-right. Currently, the exact contents are untranslated.
