Brockton, Massachusetts,
USA
A Shoe Store on Brockton's
Crescent Street, around 1915
This web site is devoted to the history of
the Jewish community of Brockton, Massachusetts
with an emphasis on the genealogical resources available for the Brockton
researcher. Articles on the history of Brockton's
Jewish community, information on Brockton's
Jewish cemeteries and the availability of directories, naturalization records,
and voters registration records and more can be found here.
HISTORY
Brockton,
Massachusetts is a small city
located 20 miles South of Boston. From the mid-1750s through the 1920s, Brockton
was a center for SHOE MANUFACTURING. Brockton's
shoemaking industry attracted many East European Jews familiar with the
shoemaking craft practiced in their shtetls. Most of Brockton's
residents were connected to the shoemaking industry at the turn of the 20th
century when immigrants began to make Brockton
their home. The Jewish population of Brockton
was at its height in the 1940s and 1950s when it was estimated to be between
4,000 and 5,000.
The Jewish neighborhood of Brockton
developed around Bay Street
and Crescent Street located East of Brockton's downtown.
In 1899 the Agudas Achim Orthodox Synagogue
was founded. Agudas Achim served as the main synagogue for Brockton's
Jews through the 1950s. In 1934 a history of the Agudas Achim synagogue
was prepared for a 35th anniversary program. This history contains all of
the names of those involved in founding the Agudas Achim Shul:
Agudas Achim at
35
The Young Men and Young Women's Hebrew
Association (YM and YWHA) was a vital part of Brockton's
Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century. In 1949 a
long-time Brockton
newspaper columnist wrote an article remembering the founders and early days of
the YM and YWHA:
History of
the YM and YWHA
In May of 1999 Agudas Achim Synagogue
celebrated its centennial. Two newspaper articles covered this event
listing the many people active throughout the years in Brockton's
Jewish community:
Agudas Achim
Centennial
Anshei Sfard, the Rusische or
Russian Congregation
Brockton's
Anshei Sfard synagogue merged with Agudas Achim in 1903. The Anshei Sfard shul
came back to life over the next five decades in a sporadic fashion. It served
disgruntled members of the other Brockton
shuls as well as serving overflow High Holiday crowds of the other shuls.
Former Brockton resident Jim Katz is the grandson of Jacob Levin, the 'Rabbi
and Janitor' of Anshei Sfard from the 1940's to the 1960's when the building
was demolished in an urban renewal project. Please contact Jim for further information..
Rusische shuls were usually founded by Jews from the Ukraine.
Anshe Sfard refers to a prayer style adopted by the mostly Chassidic Jews who
lived in the Ukraine.
It does not designate a Sephardic congregation.
RECORDS
Naturalization records for Brockton
are available from 1885-1906:
Naturalization
records
Brockton Street Directories are available
from 1874-1935:
Directories
Voters Registration Cards are available from the
first half of the 20th Century:
Voters
Registration Cards
Labor League and Labor Lyceum Papers are
available from 1914-1931:
Labor Papers
Information on Brockton's
Jewish cemeteries:
Cemeteries
THE COMMUNITY TODAY
The Jewish Community of Brockton is estimated
to be around 1500 as of 2000. Most Jews who live in Brockton
and in neighboring towns attend the Conservative
Temple Beth Emunah Synagogue
which you can learn about by visiting their web
site. Agudas Achim Synagogue (Orthodox) closed in 2005.Temple Israel
(Reform) moved to North Easton, contact:
Temple
Israel, P.
O. Box 10, North Easton,
MA 02356
(508) 587-4130
Temple Beth Emunah’s Preservation project to
save city’s Jewish history
LIBRARY
The Brockton Public Library can help you in
your research. The reference department will locate obituaries for a
small fee. The BPL web site has a page devoted to Brockton
history and genealogy resources. Contact the Library at:
Brockton Public Library
304 Main St.
Brockton,
MA 02301-5300
(508)
580-7890
The Boston Jewish
Advocate Obituary Database
Index to over 23,000 obituary notices
from this Massachusetts newspaper, 1905-2003.
This database lists 65 persons born in Brockton.
The Boston Jewish
Advocate Wedding Announcements Database
Index to over 27,000 wedding
announcements from this Massachusetts newspaper, 1905-2003.
This database lists 452 persons, bride or
groom, that hailed from Brockton.
Rabbi Aaron Gorovitz
Marriages
This database contains records of 971
marriages, 1910 to 1956, performed by Rabbi Aaron Gorovitz of Boston,
as extracted from his personal notebooks.
This database lists 9 persons, bride or
groom, that hailed from Brockton.
Hebrew Immigrant
Aid Society (HIAS), Boston Arrivals
Records of over 24,000 Jewish immigrant
arrivals via Boston,
1882-1929
This database lists 101 persons whose
destination was Brockton.
Lists ship name arrival date.
World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
These cards can
be viewed at Ancestry.com. A subscription is required. Your local library
may have access to Ancestry's databases.
All researchers
should be encouraged to list their surname/town interests in the JewishGen Family Finder
Find Brockton
researchers by registering on the Family Finder and then entering “Brockton”
for town name.
Read about unsung Zionist and philanthropist Dewey Stone
Read
about Washington attorney and Brockton native Kenneth Feinberg
Obituary
for Brockton native Herbert Warren Wind
LINKS
Brockton
community profile
http://www.state.ma.us/cc/brockton.html
The Brockton
Historical Society
http://www.brocktonma.com
Temple Beth Emunah home page
http://uscj.org/neweng/brockttb
Jewish Cemeteries Association of Massachusetts
http://jcam.org/
Whitman
Whitman, Massachusetts
is a small town located east of Brockton
down the road from Crescent Street. Jewish families that settled in
Whitman were considered part of Brockton's
Jewish Community. The Whitman Public Library can help you in your
research. Contact the library at:
Whitman Public Library
100 Webster Street
Whitman, MA 02382
(781) 447-7613
Whitman community profile
http://www.state.ma.us/cc/whitman.html
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to Rena Hurwitz, a life long
resident of Brockton
for helping me in my research. Rena's HURWITZ family settled in Brockton
around 1900, the same time as my own HURWITZ family settled in Brockton.
Though we do not appear to be related, Rena treated me "like family"
and hosted me while I visited the place where my great-grandparents and
grandparents lived in the first three decades of the 20th Century. Rena
helped me learn about Brockton's
rich Jewish history. I also want to thank Morton Feinberg of Agudas Achim
for providing me the documents which revealed my great-grandfather's
contribution to the founding of Brockton's
oldest synagogue. Thank you also to Steve Hollman for supplying me with a
map of Brockton
which shows the streets where the Jewish Community first existed. Some of
these streets no longer exist.
For
more information on the Jewish community of Brockton,
contact Steven Weiss
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Updated
July 27, 2005
Copyright
(c) Steven Weiss, 2000