Anshe Sphard Synagogue

Anshe Sphard Synagogue. Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana. , Because of religious persecution in Russia and Eastern Europe, Jewish people migrated to the United States in large numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. "The Galveston Plan," an immigration assistance program designed to divert immigration from overcrowded East Coast cities, brought many Jewish immigrants to Texas. Many came from the area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and settled in the neighborhood surrounding what would become Pike Park because of family relationships and the availability of affordable housing. This neighborhood soon earned the nicknames of "Frog Town," "Goose Valley," and "Little Jerusalem". In 1906, Jewish settlers founded Congregation Anshe Sphard ("Romanishe Shul") to worship together in the Sephardic manner. Initially meeting in private homes, the congregation purchased and remodeled a house at 2211 Alamo Street and used it as a synagogue starting in 1913. Around 1915, the prospering Jewish middle class began to relocate to larger homes in what was then considered South Dallas., Concurrently, many Mexicans immigrated to the U.S. to flee the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution. Like the Jewish settlers before them, Mexican migrants (commonly known as "Colonists") moved into the neighborhood because of family connections, affordable housing and ample job opportunities. Thus began the transition of "Little Jerusalem" to "Little Mexico". The first and largest of the Mexican American barrios in Dallas. When the Jewish congregation moved to a new location in South Dallas, they sold Anshe Sphard Synagogue to Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana (First Mexican Baptist Church) in 1918. While the house on Alamo Street (now Miguel Martinez Way) no longer exists, Anshe Sphard Synagogue and First Mexican Baptist Church symbolize Dallas' legacy as a multicultural hub in the 20th century and beyond.