Jewish Minnesota Overview

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Mount Zion Temple Jewish Minnesota OverviewMinnesota’s Jewish Population*: 

The 2004 Twin Cities’ Jewish Population Study found 10,900 Jews in St. Paul and 29,100 in Minneapolis, an estimated 1,000 Jews live in outstate towns, chiefly Duluth and Rochester. Jews make up less than 1% of Minnesota’s population, and about 1.7% of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Minnesota’s Jewish History in a Nutshell*: 

Jews moved to Minnesota from other parts of the United States and from Germany in the 1800s. They settled first in Saint Paul, setting up shop as fur traders, cigar traders, and clothing and dry goods merchants, and building Mount Zion, the first synagogue in the state. Once Jews moved into Minneapolis, they founded Shaarei Tov in 1878, which later became Temple Israel. Jews filtered into market towns around the state, and the population in Duluth and nearby towns surged once iron ore was found nearby. There was a large migration to the state after World War II, and in the 1970s and 1980s from the former Soviet Union.

Famous Minnesota Jews:

Books about Minnesota’s Jewish Community:

*Thanks to the Jewish Virtual Library for this information.

(Photo of the original Mount Zion Temple, founded in 1856, shown here in 1875. Located at Tenth Street East and Minnesota Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)