Beth Sholom Congregation, a Conservative Jewish congregation and synagogue, makes its home at 1011 North Market Street in Frederick. Its story reaches back to the Frederick Hebrew Congregation, founded in the city around 1840, when services met first in members' homes and then in a Masonic Temple. On October 7, 1917 Beth Sholom Synagogue was incorporated with the mission of furthering the cause of Judaism and to build a synagogue for the congregation in Frederick; the first synagogue was built in Brunswick that same year.
For several years, religious services were held in a room in a Masonic Temple while members raised funds—donating $18,000 to renovate a former Elks Club building on West Second Street and make it suitable as a synagogue. That building was dedicated on September 2, 1923, with Rabbi Menahem J. Friedman serving as spiritual leader at the dedication; he resigned later that month and moved to Baltimore, and Rabbi W. Willner succeeded him. In 1984 Beth Sholom built a community center in Frederick intended for the preschool, religious school, and youth activities.
The street and the buildings nearby carry that same story forward with you.