Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois

anshe sholom b'nai israel MEMORIAL PLAQUES

1145 plaques in database

Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation was founded in 1870 as Ohave Sholom (Lovers of Peace) by a group of Lithuanian Jewish families primarily from Marijampole, Lithuania. This congregation is considered to be the oldest Orthodox congregation still existing in Chicago.

In 1892, the congregation merged with the Ashe Kalvarier shul (whose building had been demolished when 12th Street, now Roosevelt Road, was widened) and adopted the name Ashe Sholom Congregation. In 1910, they moved west into a new shul building at Polk and Ashland. 

In the 1920s, they opened a branch on Homan Avenue; in the late 1930s they opened a location at Melrose and built there in 1959. In 1960, the last few members of Congregation B'nai Israel left the Old Town area, ceased operations in the 1300 block of Sedgwick Street, and the shul became Lakeview Ashe Sholom B'nai Israel. Two years later, the long postwar decline of the Old West Side brought an end to the main Ashe Sholom Congregation on Independence Boulevard, and it too merged, creating the present shul's name.

540 W Melrose Street, Chicago, IL 60657

website: www.asbi.org/

(image from chicago.gov 2014 landmark designation report)