Jewish history in Petworth

[from Kevin Morton]

This article on Jewish life in DC mentions Petworth and the current location of the 7th Day Adventist Church across from the ROC [at 8th and Shepherd]. The building originally housed the Beth Shalom Temple. I noticed when I first moved to Petworth that the tile mosaic above the main entrance looks like the Torah.

Comments

[DC1974]

There is an article floating around the net about the history of Petworth. In the 1920s, Cafritz began building homes for the middle class out here in Petworth. I believe Cafritz was Jewish. He was able to attract the more upwardly mobile Jewish community out of SW where the community had previously been congregated. By the 1950s and the beginnings of desegration in Washington, the Jewish community started moving out of Petworth, presumably to the Maryland Suburbs or further north and west in the District.

[Toby]

Yes, parts of Petworth were quite Jewish decades ago, so I've been told by elderly former residents. Several friends of my parents in a Maryland retirement community, when hearing I live in Petworth, mention attending that synagogue on Shepherd as children. (It's been a Seventh Day Adventist church for years now.) Others went to MacFarland JH or other neighborhood schools. Outside of Roosevelt HS on the west side is an old plaque to its graduates who died in WWII. There are many Jewish names on it.