Historical Marker · No. 462
First Jewish Religious Services
San Francisco, San Francisco County · California
Erected by California Centennials Commission with the cooperation of the Society of California Pioneers, 1950
Upstairs they fasted; downstairs the business went on. The room the worshippers took for Yom Kippur in 1849 sat above an assayer's store, and all day, as they prayed, gold dust was weighed and paid for below. No Torah scroll was to be had, so Leon Dyer of Baltimore read from a printed Pentateuch, and one woman attended. The bronze's first is contested: a few blocks away about ten people kept the same fast in Lewis Franklin's tent on Jackson Street, where Rosh Hashanah had been observed nine days earlier.
What the plaque says
First Jewish Religious Services In a second floor room in a store which stood on this location, forty pioneers of Jewish faith gathered on Yom Kippur (5610) September 26, 1849, and participated in the first Jewish religious services in San Francisco. State Registered Landmark No. 462 Tablet placed by California Centennials Commission with the cooperation of the Society of California Pioneers. Dedicated September 6, 1950
Where it stands
37.79613, -122.40352 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Site of the First Meeting of Freemasons Held in California — steps away
- Site of the Bank of Lucas, Turner & Co. (Sherman's Bank) — steps away
- The Montgomery Block — steps away
- Western Headquarters of Russell, Majors, and Waddell — steps away