Beth Abraham Synagogue, Auburn, collection

The earliest known reference to a Jewish house of worship in Auburn comes from the 1898-99 Androscoggin Directory, with a listing of a "Hebreux [sic] Synagogue" at 70 Second Street, in what is today known as New Auburn. (At the time the community was also known as the Barker Mill District.) The congregation purchased that building, the Estes Building, and by 1902 had grown enough to organize as a corporate parish and officially become the Beth Abraham Synagogue. By 1917 the congregation purchased a larger building on the same street, formerly owned by the Union Music Society. That building was destroyed by fire in 1918 but was rebuilt several years later. In 1933, however, it was again destroyed, this time in the New Auburn Fire that destroyed much of the business district of that community.

Construction began later that year on a new building, located on Laurel Avenue in New Auburn, and the congregation's new home was dedicated on June 23, 1934. The synagogue remained the heart of the Orthodox community in central Maine until, with membership declining, the parish was closed and the building deconsecrated in 2017.

For more historical information, please visit this site.