FeaturesJune 28, 2022
Shaping a Space: A look inside a synagogue-turned-pottery-studio
Until 1938, Cape Girardeau’s Jewish community had no permanent home. Instead, worship services were held in rented, public spaces such as the Elks Building on Themis Street or Houck Field House. By 1930, with approximately 15 Jewish families living in Cape Girardeau, a Hebrew school was organized. Classes were conducted each Sunday on the second floor of the Cape Girardeau Building and Loan Association building on Main Street, with a teacher traveling to Cape Girardeau from St. Louis...
Sharon Sanders ~ Mind + Body
Until 1938, Cape Girardeau’s Jewish community had no permanent home. Instead, worship services were held in rented, public spaces such as the Elks Building on Themis Street or Houck Field House.
By 1930, with approximately 15 Jewish families living in Cape Girardeau, a Hebrew school was organized. Classes were conducted each Sunday on the second floor of the Cape Girardeau Building and Loan Association building on Main Street, with a teacher traveling to Cape Girardeau from St. Louis.
Some of those early Jewish families included Henry and David Minnen, Al Kraemer, Phil Feinberg, Jake and Louis Pollack, William Samuels and Louis Hecht.
In 1932, services were shifted to Cape Girardeau’s Community Clubhouse, a large frame building on the east side of Capaha Park. That remained the Jewish community’s regular meeting place until fire consumed the building Feb. 11, 1937. Also destroyed was the congregation’s 450-year-old Torah, which had been brought to the United States from Germany that same year for safe-keeping by Isaac Becker, a Sikeston, Mo., merchant.
Four months after the fire, “the Jewish citizens of Southeast Missouri” announced plans to construct a synagogue on South Main Street on land purchased from the nearby St. Vincent’s Catholic Church. Thomas P. Barnett of the St. Louis architectural firm of Barnett, Haynes and Barnett designed the new house of worship, choosing a Spanish Colonial Revival style.
The structure, although unfinished, was used for the first time Nov. 21, 1937, when it hosted a district meeting of the B’Nai Brith and Ladies’ Auxiliary.
On March 20, 1938, the synagogue — now called the B’Nai Israel Synagogue — was dedicated in an afternoon ceremony, with Rabbi Philip Finkelstein of Cincinnati, Ohio, serving as guest speaker.
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It continued to regularly serve the Jewish community of Southeast Missouri through at least the early 1970s. Eventually, however, there were not enough members to form a minyan — a group of 10 Jewish males necessary to hold services.
Martin Hecht sold the unused synagogue to Merriwether Investments, a company run by John and Jerri Wyman, around 2002. Plans to transform the space into a library for children or a museum never materialized, and the Wymans offered it for sale in 2008.
Lighthouse Breakthrough International Ministries — a nondenominational Christian Church led by Adrian Taylor — moved into the former synagogue in 2012.
In March 2019, the church moved to new quarters, and the following year, Rob Lorenz bought the building and opened Riverside Pottery there.
On March 10, 2021, Riverside Pottery was named Old Town Cape’s 2020 John Boardman Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation Awards recipient.
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