New Bethlehem

New Bethlehem was incorporated as a borough in Clarion County in 1853. The local population grew rapidly in the 1870s with the arrival of the Allegheny Valley Railroad.

The earliest Jewish residents of New Bethlehem likely arrived in the first two decades of the 20th century. The local Jewish population was never large enough to support local institutions and generally affiliated with larger Jewish communities in nearby Butler, Kittanning, and Oil City. The local Jewish population of New Bethlehem was its largest and most active in the late 1920s and into the 1930s. Activities during these years included a Union Thanksgiving service held jointly with a local church, an informal association bringing together Jewish families throughout Clarion County, and a Lag B’omer dance to support the Knesseth Israel Congregation synagogue in Kittanning.

The Jewish population of New Bethlehem steadily declined from the 1930s onward. By the 1960s, the Krouse family were the only Jewish family remaining in New Bethlehem. Isadore Krouse served on the New Bethlehem City Council starting in the late 1960s.

Some of the Jewish families associated with the Jewish community of New Bethlehem, Pa. include Abse, Goodman, Harris, Krouse, Krutzel, and Pokempner. Other individuals affiliated with the local Jewish community in newspaper reports include Milton Fellman, J. C. Grossman, Rev. W. H. Houghton, Edna Meyers, B. Pitler, and Thomas Weiss.

Population

Bibliography

• Isadore Krouse Papers [2021.0181] (catalog record).
• “Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies,” by Howard Victor Epstein, 1997 [E184 .J5 E614 1997] (catalog record).

Exhibit History

• Author: Eric Lidji
• Created: August 13, 2023
• Current: August 13, 2023