United Hebrew Congregation has a rich history going back to 1837, when the City of St. Louis was still a relatively small town, and before the influx of German and Irish immigrants had dramatically changed the makeup of the population. Like many of the prominent congregations of any religion or denomination in St. Louis, it has had many locations. I read somewhere, and now unfortunately can’t find the citation, that the first location built specifically as a synagogue had a round skylight, reproduced in the current building, built in 1989.

Before that it was located in the building seen above, and perhaps most famously, in the august structure that is now the archives of the Missouri History Museum on Skinker.

B’Nai Amoona is another fascinating congregation that dates to 1882-4. It is now located at Conway and Mason roads. I knew I had recognized a historic picture of the congregation’s former location in the West End in this old photograph; I had photographed it back in August of 2018. It had once been a Presbyterian church.