After the Chicago fire in 1871 many Jewish families removed from that city to St. Louis; and these required temporary assistance. It was then that the United Hebrew Relief Association was inaugurated, with B. Singer as president, and Rabbi S. Wolfenstein (later superintendent of the Cleveland Orphan Asylum) as vice-president. Numerous charitable organizations sprang up from time to time until 1897, when the first consolidation was effected. The United Hebrew Relief Association, the Sisterhood of Personal Service, the Ladies' Zion Society, and the Hebrew Ladies' Sewing Society combined, with a view to more effective work, under the name "United Jewish Charities," with Moses Fraley as president.