Temple Aaron, officially Temple Aaron of Colorado, is a

Reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous rev ...

congregation and

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, located at 407 South Maple Street, in

Trinidad, Colorado Trinidad is the List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of cities and towns in Colorado, most populous municipality in Las Animas County, Colorado, United Stat ...

, in the United States. Completed in 1889, the temple is among the oldest synagogues in the state, and one of the oldest west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. It was designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 2023, for its distinctive Moorish architecture and for its role in the westward migration of Jews.

History

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

settlers founded the congregation in 1883, while the building was completed in 1889, designed by

Isaac Rapp Isaac Hamilton Rapp, (1854 – March 27, 1933) was an American architect who has been called the "Creator of the Santa Fe style." He was born in Orange, New Jersey. Rapp learned his trade working for his father, a sometime architect and building ...

in the exotic

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...

style. A restoration was completed in 2006. Architectural features of note include the onion dome at the top of its tower, a detail repeated in moulding at the roofline, and pointed-arch windows. From its peak in 1917 with 250 regular members, the congregation slowly began to decline, until the synagogue ran out of endowed funding, and the congregation could not afford to maintain the building. In 2016, the synagogue was listed for sale for $395,000 and added to Colorado's most endangered properties list the following year. Over a number of years, funds were raised through a non-for-profit organisation that enabled the synagogue to be preserved. In 1973 the temple was assessed as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

-listed Corazón de Trinidad historic district. On December 13, 2023, the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

designated the temple a

References

External links

* {{Synagogues in the United States 19th-century synagogues in the United States Religious organizations established in 1883 1883 establishments in Colorado Synagogues completed in 1889 1889 establishments in Colorado National Register of Historic Places in Las Animas County, Colorado German-American culture in Colorado German-Jewish culture in the United States Historic district contributing properties in Colorado Jewish organizations established in 1883 Moorish Revival architecture in Colorado Moorish Revival synagogues National Historic Landmarks in Colorado Reform synagogues in Colorado Trinidad, Colorado

History

See also

References

External links