Temple Beth Israel

Jews from sixteen Valley towns, among them McAllen, Harlingen, Weslaco and Rio Grande City, organized Congregation Beth Israel at Mercedes in 1927, according to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Members pledged $400 a month for a rabbi and teacher before they built anything, and Daniel Harrison, a recent Russian immigrant, served in 1928 and 1929. After the 1948 vote, McAllen paid $250 for the pews, Torah and tableware and formed Temple Emanuel. Harlingen's members founded a new Beth Israel, met in places including an air base and dedicated a synagogue in 1951.

What the plaque says

Temple Beth Israel During the 1910s, several Hidalgo and Cameron County families founded a small Jewish congregation. The temple lacked a permanent Rabbi; lay readers led most services, while a student Rabbi was hired to lead high holy day services. The group first worshipped in rented space, but in 1935, Temple Beth Israel (House of Israel) was designed by Weslaco architect Newell Waters and was erected at 402 W. Tenth Street. Members of the congregation represented surrounding business communities as clothing and furniture merchants, newspaper publishers and jewelers. By the late 1940s, the growth of McAllen and Harlingen reduced the congregation's size, and in 1948, the membership voted to dissolve, with members joining congregations in the two neighboring cities. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge — 14 mi
  About 2,000 acres of river forest on the Rio Grande's north bank, the surviving part of Benigno Leal's 1834 land grant, kept as a refuge since 1943 where two bird migration routes meet.
• Museum of South Texas History — 19 mi
  Edinburg's regional museum, begun in 1967 in the 1910 Hidalgo County jail and now telling the Rio Grande's story from fossils and native peoples through steamboats to the 20th century.
• La Lomita Chapel — 26 mi
  A small sandstone chapel on the Rio Grande levee, built by Oblate missionaries in 1865 and rebuilt at this site in 1899, the landmark that gave the city of Mission its name.
• Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park — 28 mi
  A flat coastal prairie north of Brownsville where Taylor's army and Arista's Army of the North fought the first major battle of the Mexican War on May 8, 1846, now interpreted from both sides.

More markers nearby

• Dr. Hector P. García — 0.4 mi
• The Hidalgo County Bank and Trust Company — 0.5 mi
• Mercedes Enterprise — 0.5 mi
• The American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation System — 0.6 mi