Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati
  • Home
  • About JCGC
    • Mission, Vision, Values
    • FAQs
    • Officers and Board
    • Affiliations
    • Rules & Regulations
    • Cincinnati’s Jewish History
    • JCGC Brochure
  • Products & Services
    • Monuments & Markers
    • Pre-Arrangements
    • Other Services
  • Our Cemeteries
    • Loveland Cemetery
    • Walnut Hills Cemetery
    • Montgomery Cemetery
    • Hamilton Cemetery
    • Price Hill Cemeteries
    • Covedale Cemeteries
    • Clifton Cemetery
    • Chestnut Street Cemetery (1821-1849)
  • Genealogy
  • Supporting JCGC
    • Friends Campaign
    • Legacy Gifts / CYJL / Guardians Legacy Society
  • Newsletters
    • Current
    • Archives
      • March 2020
      • November 2019
      • July 2019
      • March 2019
      • December 2018
      • August 2018
      • May 2018
      • February 2018
      • December 2016
      • April 2016
      • July 2016
      • December 2015
      • September 2015
      • June 2015
      • February 2015
      • November 2013
      • July 2013
      • March 2013
      • December 2012
    • Directory
  • Contact
  • Events
Home / Newsletters / Current / Chestnut St. Cemetery History

Chestnut St. Cemetery History

JCGC imagesIt’s a small town . . . with a population of just 9,642 people. It’s a pretty rough-and-tumble place, made up mostly of people who wanted to get away from the big population centers. They were willing to come to a place where most people were farmers, although both a merchant class and an intelligentsia were beginning to emerge by 1821.

It was an accepting community, which even tolerated six men of Jewish persuasion. Of course, it wasn’t possible to live a traditional Jewish existence in such a place, where Saturdays were the big market days, and there weren’t enough people to form a minyan.

Benjamin Lieb – or perhaps it was Laib or Lape – was in his 70s, and not doing well. He called Morris Moses and Joseph Jonas to visit him, and explained that he expected to die soon. He had married and lived his adult life as a Baptist, he told them. . . but his wife had preceded him in death, and his daughters had moved away. He wanted to be buried as a Jew, according to the traditions of his family in the old country, and he wanted to buy a grave in the Jewish Cemetery.

JCGC imagesBut there was a problem: the thriving little city of Cincinnati, on the far Western U.S. frontier, with only six Jewish men, didn’t have a Jewish cemetery. It didn’t even have a synagogue.

Jonas and Moses realized that they, too, would die someday, and they went to the largest landowner in the area, Nicholas Longworth, and negotiated the purchase for $75.00 of a 25 x 50 foot plot way out on the western edge of the community, on what later became Chestnut Street, 75 feet from the corner of what later became Central Avenue.

A few years later, they bought two more 25-foot lots, and Chestnut Street Cemetery – later called The Old Jewish Cemetery – became the first Jewish burial ground west of the Allegheny Mountains.

JCGC imagesThe same English immigrants, Joseph Jonas and Morris Moses, who bought the land for the cemetery, were among the small group of Jews who, in 1828 — seven years after the cemetery was created — formed Kehal Kodesh Bene Israel – the Holy Congregation of the Children of Israel – the first Jewish congregation west of the Alleghenies. K.K. Bene Israel today is known as Rockdale Temple.

By 1850, the population of Cincinnati had grown to more than 115,000 people, and Cincinnati was competing with San Fransisco to be the second largest Jewish Community in the nation. Cincinnati fell victim to a terrible cholera epidemic which caused thousands of deaths from 1847 to 1850, and as a result, Chestnut Street became filled. Between 1821 and 1849, when the last burial took place, some 85 Jews were laid to rest there.

As we look at it now, a brick wall surrounds two sides and part of a third side, and across the front is a chain-link fence that is actually owned by the City of Cincinnati. The brick wall was erected around 1873, and is not in good condition. The cemetery has a gate which is kept locked (the only one of JCGC’s cemeteries that is locked). Any one wishing to visit the cemetery may request the key from the JCGC office, and as the cemetery is very small, you can see it very well through the fence without being on the grounds.

  •  

    Facebook   DONATE

     

  • News & Info

    Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati

    2 months ago

    Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati
    Thank you to everyone who joined us last night for an illuminating conversation about "A Cantor's Head" with Cantor Jack Mendelson as part of the Mayerson JCC Jewish and Israeli Film Festival. We hope you enjoyed the film and hearing Cantor Mendelson share his insights and voice with us live. We look forward to future opportunities to celebrate the richness of Jewish tradition and culture together as a community. ... See MoreSee Less
    View on Facebook
    · Share

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

    Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati

    3 months ago

    Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati
    Watch the trailer below to get a sneak peek of "A Cantor's Head," which you can view as part of the Mayerson JCC Jewish and Israeli Film Festival. Join us for an online special event on January 25th at 7:00 pm featuring Cantor Jack Mendelson in conversation with Rabbinic Fellow Jason Cook. vimeo.com/365634990JCGC’s Guardians, our Legacy Society members, and JCGC’s Friends Campaign contributors are invited as guests of JCGC and can RSVP via info@jcemcin.org. Members of the public are welcome to join us and can purchase tickets here: mayersonjcc.org/film ... See MoreSee Less

    TRAILER _ A CANTOR'S HEAD

    vimeo.com

    Trailer for the new documentary A CANTOR'S HEAD. Director: Erik Greenberg Anjou
    View on Facebook
    · Share

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

    Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati

    3 months ago

    Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati
    We are proud to sponsor 𝘈 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳’𝘴 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥, a documentary about Cantor Jack Mendelson and his legacy, as part of the Virtual Mayerson JCC Jewish and Israeli Film Festival! After watching the film, join us online on Monday, January 25th at 7 pm for a special event featuring Cantor Jack Mendelson in conversation with Rabbinic Fellow Jason Cook.JCGC’s Guardians, our Legacy Society members, and JCGC’s Friends Campaign contributors are invited as guests of JCGC and can RSVP via info@jcemcin.org. Members of the public are welcome to join us and can purchase tickets here: mayersonjcc.org/film ... See MoreSee Less

    This content isn't available right now

    When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
    View on Facebook
    · Share

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Quick Links

  • American Israelite Quizzes
  • Weil - Recent Community Losses
  • Weil - Mourners' Information
  • Genealogy Database
Mail icon
Subscribe to our mailing list

Join our mailing list to get newsletters delivered to your email inbox.

Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati
3400 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45207
513-961-0178

©2021 • Site Map