page_title: Temple Emanu-El (Helena, Montana)
section_title: History of Helena's Jewish community
hierarchical_section_title: Temple Emanu-El (Helena, Montana) / History of Helena's Jewish community
caption_attribution_description: English: Cornerstone showing date on Jewish Calendar, Temple Emanu-El, Building on National Register of Historic Places, Helena, Montana. Now, ironically, houses the administrative offices of the Helena Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church
context_page_description: Temple Emanu-El in Helena, Montana, United States, was the first Jewish synagogue to be constructed between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon. It was completed in 1891. The once-thriving Jewish community of Helena declined to the point that by the 1930s they could no longer maintain the building, and it was sold to the State of Montana, which added a second floor, converted it to office space and removed most religious symbolism from the building, though kept the unique stained glass windows. Eventually, the building fell into disuse by the state other than storage space, and so it was purchased by the Catholic Diocese of Helena, which owns it today and uses it to house their administrative offices. While the Jewish communities of Montana have always been small, they have become more active and visible in recent decades.
context_section_description: During the Montana Gold Rush hundreds of Jewish people came to Montana, many of them to Helena. The early Jewish settlers to Helena were mostly of German origin, hailing from Prussia, Bavaria, and Austria, as well some from Poland.  Forming a mutual aid organization called the  United Hebrew Benevolent Society in 1866, they became a major economic force in the city, owning 17 of Helena's 20 dry goods stores by 1867. In 1871, merchant Jacob Feldberg was nicknamed "Helena's Paul Revere for his courage in organizing a bucket brigade that saved his entire neighborhood from a fire. In 1877, twenty percent of Helena's Board of Trade was Jewish, and the owner of the International Hotel, Marcus Lissner, served six terms on the Helena City Council.  Lissner's hotel repeatedly burned during the many fires that plagued Helena's business district in the 1860s and 1870s, yet he rebuilt it each time until it was nicknamed "The Phoenix."  Other members of Helena's Jewish community made significant contributions to the city, such as Josephine Israel, who not only supported the building of the temple, but also was the founder of Shodair Children's Hospital.  On a purchasing trip to New York, Helena merchant Herman Gans convinced Rabbi Samuel Schulman to move to Helena. Rabbi Schulman was from Berlin and brought German Reform Judaism along. Rabbi Schulman and Gans were heavily involved in building Helena's temple.
  The United Hebrew Benevolent Society also developed the Home of Peace Cemetery, which, due to the large numbers of Jewish people who left Helena (and much of Montana) during the Great Depression, now contains more bodies than the current living Jewish population of Helena. In nearby Butte, Montana, the Hebrew Benevolent Society of Butte followed, in 1881. The Butte Jewish community formed Congregation B'Nai Israel in 1897, completing their Temple 1903.
caption: Cornerstone of the temple, inscribed with the Hebrew calendar year of its founding
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