Two years ago, Indiana Landmarks/Sacred Places Indiana invited United Hebrew Congregation Terre Haute to apply for a planning grant, earned due to the congregation’s small size and the daunting challenge it faced in maintaining a large, historic house of worship.
“I’ve heard people ask, ‘is the synagogue still even open?’” says Vice President/Secretary Terry Fear. “From the street, our building looks dark all the time. Even on Friday nights, our lights are shuttered.”
That challenge also created opportunity, however, as the congregation won a $5,000 grant — and a succeeding $25,000 capital grant — through the work of a team dedicated to revitalizing Temple Israel, a neoclassical structure built in 1911.
