West Rogers Park Congregation First Building

Title: West Rogers Park Congregation First Building
Creator: Grace Tony
Date: 23 March 2023
Description: 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.
Place: Chicago, Illinois
Contributor: Christopher D. Cantwell
Rights Holder: Image courtesy of Grace Tony