Here marks the current location of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah is one of the oldest Reform Jewish Congregations in the nation and the oldest synagogue in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is a center for locals of all ages in the Jewish community of Overland Park, Kansas. Founded in 1870 by a handful of pioneer families, it has historically had the largest number of members among local Jewish congregations. Towards the end of the 19th century, B’nai Jehudah became a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism establishing its ambition to seek social improvement. The congregation has since been known nationally for its vision, leadership and progressive thinking. There is an unparalleled richness and diversity in the life of the congregation and an enthusiasm for social justice and committing to the needs of others.
This monument was dedicated in 1963, making it one of the first memorials in the United States to recognize the history of the Holocaust. At the end of World War II, Holocaust survivors moved around the world to rebuild their lives. Given the large Jewish community in Kansas City and global family networks, some survivors moved to the Kansas City metropolitan area. With the support of the Jewish community and others throughout Kansas City, local Holocaust survivors led the effort to raise funds to create this memorial to the six million Jews who were victims of the Holocaust. Fundraising began in the late 1950s and President Harry Truman spoke at the memorial's dedication ceremony on June 9, 1963. The monument was one of the first of its kind in the United States and originally stood on Holmes Road until the decision was made in 1988 to move to its present location on the grounds of the Jewish Community Center.
Oakwood Country Club started as the "summer home" of Progress Club, Kansas City's Jewish gentleman's club, which began in 1893 within the Progress Hill neighborhood downtown. As more and more members of the Progress Club wished to play golf, and with Jewish people across the city facing exclusion from country clubs, Oakwood began in 1912. The once-rural golf course and the country club gave members of the Jewish community a place for socialization and recreation, and has been open to all prospective members since the 1980s.
This former school was originally constructed in 1961 and served as the home of the Jewish Community Center. The Center's move to this location reflected Jewish migration to the south of Kansas City, and this building was the hub of Jewish life and culture in Kansas City for more than twenty years. In 1984, JCC moved again, this time to its present Johnson County location which once again reflected the move of Jewish community members. This building served as Paul Robeson Middle School for six years and has sat abandoned ever since. Given the building's potential, there have been talks of restoring it for use as a recreational center or school, but as of 2022, it remains in a state of disrepair.
Congregation B'nai Jehudah operated from this location between 1957 to 2000, making the congregation's fourth home. The temple design resembled a tent and featured a new ark, LaFarge stained glass taken from the previous building on Linwood, and a 16-foot-tall statue of Moses. The sanctuary was finished a decade later and had the capacity for 700 people, much more than the congregation's previous temples could accommodate. This temple was in use for over forty years, but as more people moved to Johnson County, so did B'nai Jehudah, moving to their fifth and current location in 2000. The Holmes Road Temple was later torn down and University Academy now stands where the synagogue used to be.
Congregation Ohev Sholom was formed in the 1920s when two congregations, Gomel Chesed and Shearith Israel, reunited. The congregation held services in a building at 7th and Sandusky until 1962 when the congregation moved to Prairie Village. Today their building, the shape of which is meant to evoke the image of Abraham's tent, is vacant after Ohev Sholom merged with Beth Sholom during the summer of 2022.
Completed in 1927, the Beth Shalom Synagogue is best known for its two terracotta towers--the only example of Byzantine architecture in Kansas City. It has been the home to Victorious Life Church since 1969.
Between 1924 and 1961, this was the location of the first permanent home of the Kansas City Jewish Community Center, formerly known as the Young Men's/Young Women's Hebrew Association. The local Jewish community formed the YM/YWHA in 1914 as a response to their exclusion from other local clubs, and for the next decade, the center was housed in rented space followed by a house on Troost. Although anyone was welcome at the Community Center, it was created with the needs of Jewish people in mind as a space where Jews could learn, exercise, and celebrate together. The center became an important place where Jews could spend time with one another outside of their synagogues. In the early 1960s, the JCC moved to a new building on 82nd and Holmes Road, and the Linwood building was later demolished. The Linwood JCC was also home to the Resident Theater, a renowned community theater that ran for more than fifty years within this former building and the community center on Holmes Road which was later replaced with the current JCC.
Completed in 1908, this building was the third to house Congregation B'nai Jehudah, Kansas City's oldest Jewish congregation. Inspired by the synagogues of other congregations in cities such as St. Louis and Cincinnati, the congregation chose to utilize a classical Greek Revival style, "following the examples of proportions of the Pompein Doric." The new building had even more seating capacity than the previous building, allowing the congregation's membership to grow even more over the years. B'nai Jehudah occupied this building until 1957 when they moved to a building further south at 69th and Holmes following a migrating congregation.
The building that used to stand here was Congregation B'nai Jehudah's second synagogue. It was built in a Moorish design, featuring twin towers with onion cupolas on top. Construction started in 1883 and took two years, finishing in 1885 just before Rosh Hashanah. The building had an impressive design and an expanded seating capacity for the growing congregation. However, it only served them for 23 years, with B'nai Jehudah moving to the new Linwood building in 1908.
The first building to serve as Congregation B'nai Jehudah's temple was located here. The congregation used it for the short period of 1875 to 1885 before moving to a larger building on 11th and Oak Street. It was a modest building serving a small Jewish community, but the community was proud of it, speaking highly of it until their new building was finished. T.M. James & Sons occupied the building for some time after the congregation moved. After this, it was eventually razed.
This architecturally-significant structure housed the Progress Club, Kansas City's first Jewish gentleman's club. The building was designed in the Chateauesque Style of architecture which was popular in the late 19th century and usually blended detailed and imposing masonry facades with a steeply-pitched roof to accentuate a building's height. During a time when Jewish people faced increased discrimination in business and social clubs, the more established members of the local community founded their club in the historic Quality Hill neighborhood. From 1893 until 1910, this building was a place for Jewish people to socialize outside of the synagogue. In 1910, the organization's operations were moved to the new Oakwood Country Club which reflected migration patterns. The building operated as a YMCA until May 2020.
Congregation Gomel Chesed was dedicated in 1893 at its original home in the West Bottoms. They moved to this site when their old synagogue was destroyed in the 1903 flood. After this, a group of families split off, calling their new congregation Shearis Israel. In 1922, the two congregations reunited to form Congregation Ohev Shalom. They left this location after the merger, moving to 7th and Sandusky.
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Starting with locations that were home to Kansas City, Missouri's Jewish synagogues and organizations in the 19th century, this citywide trail includes some of the most important sites in local Jewish history. The trail demonstrates how the city's Jewish community grew, along with decisions to move in response to residential patterns over the past century-and-a-half.
