SYNAGOGUE'S OF CHELSEA
According to local historical records, Nathan Morse, the first Jewish resident of Chelsea, arrived in 1864. In 1890 there were eighty-two Jews living in Chelsea. Some of the many Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe who immigrated to the United States between 1890 and 1920 settled in Chelsea. By 1910 the number of Jews had grown to 11,225, nearly one-third of the entire population of the city. In the 1930s there were about 20,000 Jewish residents in Chelsea out of a total population of almost 46,000. Given the area of the city, Chelsea may well have had the most Jews per square mile of any city outside of New York. During the Thirties the first exodus of Jews from Chelsea to the suburbs began. By the 1950s the Jewish population had decreased to about 8,000. The Jewish population of Chelsea continued to dwindle, and in 1979 the Chelsea Hebrew School closed its doors. By 1980 only three of the fourteen shuls that had once been packed with mispallelim were still barely functioning.
	Walnut Street Shul Congregation Hagudath Sholom is situated at the corner of Walnut and Fourth Streets. This is the largest congregation in Chelsea. It is co-operated with Beth Hamidrash Hagodol which was destroyed in the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908. This congregation is the oldest in Chelsea. It originally occupied the building at 120 Winnisimmett St. Later the congregation outgrew the Winnisimmett Street Synagogue and then built a magnificant structure at the corner of Fifth and Poplar Streets which was destroyed by the 1908 fire. The present synagogue was immediately erected.
History of the Walnut Street Shul In 1887, Jews gathered in the home of Monas Berlin to daven on Shabbosos and Yamim Tovim. In time the minyan moved to new quarters. It was called Congregation Ohabei Shalom. By 1901 the growing congregation had enough funds to purchase property at the corner of Walnut and Fourth Streets, which was to become the site of the Walnut Street Shul. In the early 1900s Congregation Ohabei Sholom merged with another group under the name Congregation Agudas Sholom. This became the largest congregation in Chelsea and had almost completed a new shul building on the Walnut Street site when it was destroyed by fire in 1908. The destroyed building was rebuilt from a design by non-Jewish architect Harry Dustin Joll, in 1909. The magnificent structure was sometimes called the "Queen of Synagogues" and is believed to have been the largest shul in New England at the time. In the bylaws of 1909, the founding members declared that "The organization shall carry the name of 'Congregation Agudas Sholom of Chelsea, Massachusetts' and shall be conducted as strictly Orthodox. The congregation shall consist of a school for learning, a shul for prayer, and everything shall be carried out strictly under the requirements of the Jewish religion and under the strict Jewish laws and customs as govern other Orthodox congregations - and this paragraph shall not be changed so long as there are seven members in good standing who are satisfied to support the charter of this congregation." The ground floor of the shul contains a kitchen and two battei medrash, a smaller one that was used for daily davening and a larger one, where Shabbos services usually took place. The men's section of the main shul is one flight up. The aron of the main shul stands 37.5 feet high and is made of solid oak with carvings of animals and symbols from the Torah. The women's gallery is located on the third floor, with a seating capacity nearly equal to that of the men's section downstairs. Together, the men's and ladies' sections on the second and third floors can seat 1109 people.
	Congregation Linas Hatzedek Beth Israel or the "Chestnut Street Shul was organized by immigrants from Kamen Kashirsky in the Ukraine and the local carpenters association. It was disbanded in the 1980s and the building was sold to a local church which operates there today.
Chestnut Street Shul
	The Congregation Avas Achim Ansha Ephard was situated on Everett Ave. at the junction of Elm St. The Congregation was the second oldest in the city of Chelsea. It was organized in 1901. Shortly before the conflagration of 1908 a magnificent synagogue occupied the present sight which was destroyed by the fire. This synagogue was again destroyed in the fire of 1973.
	The Congregation Beth Hamidrash Hagodol is situated on Third St. near the corner of Arlington St. This congregation conducted their services for a number of years in some of the larger halls of the city. In 1912 arrangements were made for the erection of a synagogue. This edifice on Third St. is a result of those efforts.
	A house on Carmel St. provided the first quarters for Congregation Shaare Zion, which was started in 1911. A year later it moved around the corner to its present location at 76 Orange St.
	Jewish homes of worship in Chelsea have been, for the most part, of the Orthodox branch of Judiasm. Of the some 20 synagogues that have existed here during the past 100 years, the only exception has been Temple Emmanuel and its forerunner Temple Beth El. Temple Beth El, which lasted but a few years, was dedicated in 1929. Its conservative successor, Temple Emmanuel, was organized at the YMHA in June 1937. It purchased its present Cary Ave. quarters from the First Methodist Episcopal Church. It was formally opened that fall.
Temple Emmanuel - Cary Ave.	Young Mens Hebrew Association - YMHA