Jefferson was a thoroughly German-Jewish Reform community from the earliest days before the Civil War. By the early 1870's Jefferson was one of the most populous cities in Texas, a busy and important river port for cotton, timber and other commodies. The synagogue was not purpose-built but moved into a former convent and school, adding the ark enclosure.
This exaggerated verticals give the building a decidedly noble
but un-heimish quality. The building now serves as a playhouse
for regular presentations of a re-enactment of a local courtroom
drama. Diamond Bessie, a local character and paramour of a Mr.
Rothschild, was found murdered in the woods just outside of town.
Mr. Rothschild and Bessie's celebrated diamonds were missing.
He was captured, tried, convicted, then acquited on appeal. The
story is that jurors' deliberations were aided by $1000-bills
floated down through the ceiling.
Diamond Bessie's dress is displayed between engagements in the
school building adjacent to the synagogue. The town dines out
on its history and little else. When Jay Gould was pushing his
railroad through Texas, he requested right-of-way through the
town. The city council turned him down flat, at which time he
remarked to the effect--if the railroad would not go through the
town, grass would grow on main street. Just after that 10 men,
8 of them Jewish, petittioned the council to reconsider. No soap!
Soon after a log jam stopped up the river, which the Army Corps
of Engineers dynamited. The linked explosions had a marked effect
on the river hydraulics in that area and permanently lowered the
water level. The river was no longer navigable. The railroad went
elsewhere, and Jefferson dried up and nearly blew away.
These days the town plies the tourist trade with its many lovely
homes, restored to pre-Gould grandeur. Oddly the town acquired
Jay Gould's private railroad car and displays it as a prominent
civic attraction.