The Lost Jewish Community of the West Side Flats: 1882-1962
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About this ebook
Gene H. Rosenblum
This is the second Arcadia title by author Gene H. Rosenblum. His first book was the acclaimed Jewish Pioneers of St. Paul: 1849-1874, published in 2001. Mr. Rosenblum is a founding member of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest and has also written for Jewish Digest, American Jewish World, and Western States Jewish History Magazine.
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Book preview
The Lost Jewish Community of the West Side Flats - Gene H. Rosenblum
March 25, 2002
12 Nissan 5762
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas is proud and honored to lend its 501(c)3 non-profit status to sponsor the publication of The Lost Jewish Community of St. Paul—The West Side Flats 1882–1962
by Gene H. Rosenblum.
The histories about St. Paul’s diverse communities have only been partially told. Vibrant Jewish neighborhoods—like the West Side—have stories that need to be told in order to record the challenges and achievements of the early Jewish immigrants.
We look forward to the publication and distribution of this important work.
Sincerely,
Stephen R. Silberfarb
Executive Director
The Lost Jewish Community of the West Side Flats:
1882-1962
Gene H. Rosenblum
Copyright © 2002 by Gene H. Rosenblum
9781439630105
Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston SC, Chicago IL, Portsmouth NH, San Francisco CA
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002105030
For all general information contact Arcadia Publishing at:
Telephone 843-853-2070
Fax 843-853-0044
E-Mail sales@arcadiapublishing.com
For customer service and orders:
Toll-Free 1-888-313-2665
Visit us on the Internet at www.arcadiapublishing.com
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Author
Introduction
Acknowledgments
I. - In the Beginning
II. - The Refugees
III. - State Street and all the other funny little streets
IV. - Peddlers and Other Occupations
V. - The Neighborhood House
VI. - Synagogues and Other Amenities
VII. - Old Man River
VIII. - Goodbye
APPENDIX - The Peddlers
Bibliography
Annotations
About the Author
This is Gene H. Rosenblum’s second book published by Arcadia Publishing. His first book was the acclaimed Jewish Pioneers of St. Paul: 1849-1874 published in 2001.
Gene H. Rosenblum is a retired St. Paul, Minnesota real estate attorney. He has a B.A. from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from the William Mitchell College of Law (formerly St. Paul College of Law).
He has served as an Assistant to the Mayor of St. Paul, and Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of St. Paul. He has served two terms on the St. Paul Heritage Preservation Commission. He also has been of counsel
to the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota.
He is a past president of the Ira Weil Jeffrey Lodge of B’nai B’rith, and a former Treasurer and member of the Board of Governors of the old District Six B’nai B’rith.
He is one of the founders of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest and served on its board several years. He is also past president of the B’nai B’rith Rochester Chaplaincy
at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He also has served on the board of the Temple of Aaron congregation.
Before writing his first book for Arcadia Publishing, he had written various articles for the Jewish Digest and the American Jewish World. He has also written of Judge Isaac Nunez Cardozo in an article called Western Grandee
published by the Western States Jewish History Association in California.
He is married, and has two children, one grandson and five great-grandsons.
Introduction
This is a story about the West Side Flats,
or sometimes called the Lower West Side of St. Paul, in the state of Minnesota. It is a true story about the lost Jewish community
of an area that stretches from the Mississippi River banks to the cliffs of the West Side Hills,
covering approximately 320 acres of flat, sandy land.
The families are gone, the houses are gone, the streets are gone, and the synagogues are gone. All fell victim to the vagaries of the Mississippi River and urban renewal.
You can visit New York City’s Lower East Side, Chicago’s Maxwell Street, or even Baltimore, Maryland, where you won’t find a community so completely obliterated as St. Paul’s West Side Flats, now known as Riverview Industrial Park. I never lived on the West Side Flats, but my grandparents did. My maternal grandparents (the Weiners or Winers) lived at 109 Eva Street, near the banks of the Mississippi River, for a few years until they moved up to the Capitol Heights
area, or what we called Fourteenth Street
in the eastern shadow of the Minnesota State Capitol.
My paternal grandparents (the Rosenbloom, Rosenblom, or Rosenblums) settled at 126 State Street at the beginning of the 20th century, then moved to 271 Kentucky Street, and finally 234 East Fairfield. They remained there until the end of the First World War, when they moved into the Hill District
near Selby and Dale, close to the Temple of Aaron Synagogue located on Ashland and Grotto Streets.
The West Side Flats are now but a memory to a whole generation. It was lively and interesting and colorful, not unlike the Lower East Side of New York City or Maxwell Street in Chicago.
I hope that you will enjoy this pictorial trip down Memory Lane.
Snatch our memory from oblivion…
—Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Washington, D.C.
This photo shows a view of Indiana Street looking down Robertson, which was unpaved. On the right is the Neighborhood House. (Courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.)
Acknowledgments
When I prepared the manuscript for my first book, Jewish Pioneers of St. Paul: 1849-1874 , which was published last year, I was struck by