The Kingsbacher Family
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County. It was a rural area of farms and homesteads through the second half of the 19th century and was incorporated on July 30, 1898.
In the late 19th century, Swissvale became a popular summertime destination, including for some of the wealthier Jewish families in Pittsburgh and Allegheny. A local Jewish population emerged in Swissvale in the 1920s. Individual families initially affiliated with existing congregations in nearby Braddock and Rankin and joined with families in those towns to form the Jewish Community Center of Braddock in 1926. In later years, some Jewish families in Swissvale affiliated with Beth Israel Congregation in Wilkinsburg.
In late 1927, Sarah Bastacky formed the Hebrew Ladies Aid Society of Swissvale, also known as the Jewish Women’s Club of Swissvale. It oversaw the Swissvale Religious School under the auspices of the Southwestern District of Pennsylvania Jewish Religious Schools program. The Jewish Women’s Club of Swissvale met into the late 1950s.
A Swissvale Jewish Men’s Club led an unsuccessful drive in 1939 to build in synagogue in Swissvale. The club later evolved into B’nai B’rith Lodge 1757, which was officially installed in 1948. B’nai B’rith Lodge 1757 continued meeting into the mid-1960s.
| Type | Year | Population | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1900 | 1,716 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1910 | 7,381 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1920 | 10,908 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1930 | 16,029 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1940 | 15,919 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1950 | 16,488 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1960 | 15,089 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1970 | 13,819 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1980 | 11,345 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 1990 | 10,637 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 2000 | 9,653 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 2010 | 8,983 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Total population [Swissvale] | 2020 | 8,624 | U.S. Census via Wikipedia |
| Jewish population [Swissvale] | 1927 | 150 | American Jewish Yearbook, Vol. 30 [1928-1929] |
| Jewish population [Swissvale] | 1937 | 200 | American Jewish Yearbook, Vol. 42 [1940-1941] |
| Jewish population [Swissvale] | 1963 | 54 | "The Jewish Community of Pittsburgh: a Population Sutdy, 1963" Note: Includes Jewish population of neighboring Wilkinsburg |
Some of the families associated with the Jewish community of Swissvale include Applebaum, Apter, Bastacky, Bigman, Cantar, Caplan, Charrapp, Cohen, Davis, Egerman, Feinberg, Feinberg, Frankel, Goodstein, Gottleib, Grobstein, Harris, Hendelblatt, Hindin, Hirsch, Jacobson, Kallus, Kimmelman, Laufe, Lebowitz, Lincoff, Litman, Mendleblatt, Metzger, Miller, Neuman, Newman, Podolsky, Rosen, Rosenbloom, Roth, Schacter, Schultz, Schwartz, Shapiro, Sheck, Sigel, Stark, Weber, Weher, Weinberg, Weiner, Weinstein, Weiss, Wolfe, Zimmau, and Zinman.
