Kittanning

Kittanning is a borough in Armstrong County, Pa. It was originally a Lenape (Delaware) village of the same name and the site of the Battle of Kittanning in 1756 during the French and Indian War. The Kittanning borough was incorporated in 1803 and became the seat of Armstrong County. Activity in the borough increased after it became a stop of the Pennsylvania Canal. The brother Jacob and Emanuel Klein moved their dry goods business from Pittsburgh to Kittanning around 1860 and remained in Kittanning for some 25 years.^[1]Emanuel Klein obituary, Jewish Criterion, April 21, 1905, p29 (online—Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project). By the early 20th century, Kittanning was an industrial center, with several mines, mills and factories. Among these was a typewriter factory owned by Sidney Kaufman, who was a member of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh.^[2]Feldman, Jacob, “The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania, A History: 1755-1945,” p. 209-210.

Various sources provide conflicting details about the origins of a Jewish community in Kittanning. According a January 1940 survey conducted by the Works Progress Administration Church Archives, a group of Jewish families started a Mother’s Club in 1896 for the purposes of running a religious school.^[3]Kneseth Israel Congregation, Congregations, 1937–1940, and undated. Microfilm, 298–299, 3258–3313. Records of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Record Group 13. Pennsylvania … Continue reading In his book “The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania, A History: 1755-1945,” historian Jacob Feldman put the beginnings of the community “around 1900,” when several Jewish immigrants from Lithuania began walking to occasional religious services at the home of Louis Pollock in Manorville, Pa., which sat between the bigger towns of Kittanning and Ford City.^[4]Feldman, Jacob, “The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania, A History: 1755-1945,” p. 209-210. A community history from 1954 put the date of these services at 1905 and offered 1911 as the year the Jewish community organized a congregation called Kneseth Israel. Israel Rambach was the first president of the group and Morris Adelson was the first vice president. Other members of the original group included Abe Adelson, Charles Adelson, Abe Caplan, Arthur Gruskin, Ike Gruskin, John Gruskin, Harry Lurie, Dave Pollock, Louis Pollock, Sam Rambach, and Meyer Silberblatt. One of the early religious figures of that era was a shochet (ritual slaughterer) from Ford City named Harry Friedman. The congregation met for several years at the Kittanning Academy Building.^[5]“Dedication Program,” 1954 (online). According to a different community history from 1937, 15 women founded the Mother’s Club of Kittanning in January 1912 and started a religious school. The school initially met at the International Order of the Odd Fellows Hall at 315 Jacobs Street, and later at the Kittanning Academy Building at 370 N. Jefferson Street. Around 1918, the school affiliated with the Southwestern District of Pennsylvania Jewish Religious Schools program overseen by the National Council of Jewish Women-Pittsburgh Section.^[6]Kittanning Mother’s Club history, 1937 (online).

By 1918, a group of Jewish families in Kittanning and Ford City had chartered Kneseth Israel Congregation and converted a residence at 328 North Water Street into a synagogue. Kneseth Israel paid off the mortgage for the building in 1941. At a community meeting on Nov. 14, 1951, a newly formed building committee began discussing plans for a new synagogue. The congregation sold its original synagogue and hired architect Alexander Sharove to design the new building. The congregation broke ground of the building in 1953 and dedicated the new synagogue at 599 N. Water Street in 1954. The new synagogue included two series of custom stained glass windows. One series of 13 windows depicted scenes of Jewish history from creation through the founding of the State of Israel. A second series of eight windows depicted the major Jewish holidays. Kneseth Israel paid off the mortgage for its second synagogue in 1960.^[7]“Mortgage Burning Banquet” program, 1960 (online). It sold the building to the First United Methodist Church of Kittanning in 1987.^[8]Susini, Bob. “Sale of synagogue is end of an era for area’s Jews,” Kittanning Leader-Times, Nov. 21, 1987 (online).

In addition to the congregation and the religious school, Jewish institutions in Kittanning and Ford City included B’nai B’rith Armstrong Lodge No. 770 (founded 1915) and the Kittanning Chapter of Hadassah. The congregation seems to have never established its own cemetery in Armstrong County.

Jewish families in Kittanning and Ford City included Appel, Adelson, Brody, Caplan, Charlson, Chinn, Cohen, Esinstein, Feldman, Finesod, Gross, Grossman, Gruskin, Hampton, Harris, Joseph, Karp, Kaplan, Krouse, Krutzel, Lebby, LeBendig, Leibman, Lesser, Lurie, Manstof, Mervis, Moss, Nevins, Parish, Parnes, PoKempner, Pollock, Rambach, Resiberg, Rosenberg, Rosenson, Siegel, Silverblatt, and Sparks. Spiritual leaders included Rabbi Dolgoff, Rabbi Friedman, Rabbi Reiches, Rabbi Spivak, Rabbi Ruttenberg, Rabbi Holzman, Rabbi Levy, Rabbi Zakuto, Rabbi Weiner, Rabbi Cohen, Rabbi Schwartzman, and Rabbi Gerald Lerer.

Kittanning and Ford City population (total and Jewish)

Bibliography

Collections

• Kneseth Israel Congregation Collection [2003.0112] (catalog record).
• Kneseth Israel Congregation Materials [2004.0085] (catalog record).
• Susan Jacobs Photographs [2007.0253]
• Robert and Betty Lou Margolis Photographs [2007.0289]
• Adelson Family Papers and Photographs [2013.0193] (catalog record).
• Karp Family Papers and Photographs [MSS 1100] (catalog record).

Publications

• Kneseth Israel Congregation dedication book [BM225.K5 K6 1954] (online).
• “Roses in December: A Memoir of My Parents,” by Florence Berman Karp [CS71.B516 K18 1983] (catalog record).
• “Tsiveh Gordin/Sylvia Berman,” by Tela Cohn Zasloff [CS71.B47 Z37 2002 long] (catalog record).

Oral Histories

• Diane Karp Rudov oral history [2015.0238] (online).
• Elissa Karp Hirsch oral history [2015.0238] (online).
• Norman and Nancy Karp oral history [2015.0237] (online).
• Radman Family Video Oral Histories [2016.0113] (catalog record).

Exhibit History

• Author: Eric Lidji
• Created: May 5, 2017
• Current Version: February 21, 2022