Millinery Center Synagogue
About This Listing
Place Details
- Borough: Manhattan
- Neighborhood: Garment District
- Categories: Industrial, Place of Worship
Place Matters Profile
The millinery industry was well established in the Garment District by 1920, concentrated in the area between 35th and 40th Streets, from Fifth to Sixth Avenues. In 1931, there were nearly 600 hat manufacturers in New York employing some 15,000 workers and comprising two thirds of the national trade. When it was founded in 1935, the Millinery Center Synagogue’s congregation worshipped in a loft building. By 1948, when the current synagogue building was completed, the congregation numbered 1,200. Built by and for milliners, the synagogue was both a symbolic expression of Jewish culture within the industry and a social center. Along with the millinery union, regular supporters included the Millinery Bowling League, the Millinery Textile Cub, the Millinery Salesman Union and retailers throughout the city. Memorial plaques line the walls, extolling the virtues of those who served the millinery industry as well as the synagogue.
Nominations
Naomi Fatouros
My father, H.I. Feldman, now deceased, was the architect of the Millinery Center Synagogue, at 1025 Sixth Avenue, Manhattan, as well as the architect of hundreds of buildings, mostly apartment houses, built in Manhattan, the Bronx and many other areas in and near New York
Barbara Weider
The congregation was small in 1935, but by 1948 we had about 1200 members. When we first organized we had a floor in a loft building and by 1948 we had our own building–we moved into the synagogue. In the old days we used to work six days, so on holidays people used to come and pray there in the mornings. There were lines around the block.
